99 Percent Hate, 1 Percent Love
by complicated123
Summary: James has always tried hard to recieve the love from the love of his life, Lily Evans. His schemes have always failed. Now he has thought of the ultimate scheme, including purple hair and bubbleheads. Will his scheme be successful or will it backfire?
1. It All Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling or anybody else. I own only a two characters and this plot.

**Summary: **James tries extra hard to get Lily to notice him, and all his plans refuse to work. Now he's thinking of the ultimate scheme: including purple hair and bubbleheads! Will it work, or will his plan backfire. Read and find out!

**It All Begins:**

"POTTER, YOU INCOMPETENT LITTLE TOERAG! UNDO THIS SPELL OR I'LL TAKE AWAY HOUSE POINTS," shrieked my best friend, Lily Evans. "POTTER, I KNOW YOU IN THERE! COME OUT THIS INSTANT!" _Yep,_ I thought,_ perfect timing; this keeps our morning schedule in tact._

"What's going on," asked the infamous Sirius Black; his long black hair bouncing off his shoulders as he walked towards my chair. For a second, I thought I could hear his fan club sighing form across the common room.

"Uh, just the usual," I sighed, stretching. Suddenly alert I added, "What do you want, Black?" I could hear that our conversation was being serenaded by the voices of Lily and Potter:

"Oh Evans, do you really want to take house points away from your own house now? You wanna keep your Gryfindor honor now, don't you?"

"I SWEAR, POTTER, I'LL DO IT! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!"

Suddenly, the squeak of the entrance portrait was heard and my other two friends, Janette Hoovers and Alice Movery, stumbled into the room. Close behind them stood Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, laughing at the fallen girls. Finally rising up from my perch, I walked towards them. Since I hadn't seen any of them on the train ride over, this was my first time in over two months seeing them.

Janette Hoovers stood at about 5'2" and had midnight black hair that ran in waves down her back. She had glistening steel eyes and a pale face. Netta was bright (except when it came to potions and care of magical creatures), kind, and athletic. She played keeper on the Gryfindor quidditch team and was assistant captain.

Alice Movery had shoulder length hair and was relatively small. She had rosy cheeks and a charming personality, which shone through her misty ocean eyes. She was your normal best friend figure; kind, smart, and gave great advice.

"We really should try to break them apart, you know, they're already giving me a migraine," whined Alice, facing Lily and James, who were intent on killing each other. Of course, when are they not?

"Ok, let me think of a plan."

Sirius put on a pained face that lead us to believe that he was thinking. Suddenly he looked ecstatic. " Melli, Alice, and Janette go and… Remus, Peter and I will… get it?"

We all nodded and jumped to it. Alice, Janette and I leapt onto Lily, tackling her to the floor, while Peter, Remus, and Sirius leapt onto James. Ducking stray curses and spells that were floating around in the air, we finally led them to different sides of the room. By then, we had a huge audience. _Great, what a dream come true._

"What are you guys doing? Let me at him, LET ME AT HIM!"

Lily banged her feet onto the ground and tried to slap us away from her. We tried to calm her down but she was too far into the "must-kill-James-or-else" mode. There was nothing we could do but lead her to the lake outside. _This isn't going to be easy_, I thought as Janette and Alice lugged her towards the entrance portrait, _this isn't going to be easy at all._

**15 minutes later...**

"Why is she always after me, Padfoot?"

"Uh…let's take a guess shall we. I think that Lily probably despises you with all her mortal being because your…hair is black. That's why she hates me too! Don't you think it's amazing that she doesn't hate Janette? Wha-," blabbered Sirius sarcastically, until Remus interrupted him.

Glaring at him, Remus replied, "It's probably because you pranked her for practically your whole five years here at Hogwarts. And then the incessant "will-you-go-out-with-me" routines, I swear, those were the most annoying things ever. I bet, if you're looking for a way to make a girl never look at you again, you should ask her to go out with you five hundred times a day. You should really lie low for a while, you know, try to get to know her, try to-."

"Yeah, yeah, Remus, we know you're all for the whole mushy, gushy lovey-dovey romance advice, but we all know how to get rid of a girl. By the way, Mooney, what do you know about girls anyway, you never had a girlfriend and the one girl you have your eye on doesn't even know-," argued Sirius until he a hand slapped onto his mouth making it unable for him to talk. "Mph, mum, mumph!"

"SHUT UP, PADFOOT, SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

"Oh yeah, well I know you have a crush on-"

The two boys started to wrestle each other on the ground, bumping into books, parchment, and some unmentionable items that happened to be lying on the ground of their dorms right at that moment. Peter yelped and jumped onto his bead as Remus and Sirius started rolling toward him. James began to grin, Peter's reaction made him think of the scene in an old muggle film where an adventurer, who was holding a bag of jewels, was running away from a boulder. Then there was Peter, holding onto his head, running away from the ball of flesh, which was now Remus and Sirius. _I've got to find a way to get Lily this year. This year is going to be** the** year, I'm sure of it_, he thought, grinning to himself._ This'll be the year._ And with that, he joined in on the wrestling, which led to a very harsh pillow fight. It was only until after the boys crawled under their sheets, was when James thought, _Hey! Who **does** Remus like anyway? I've never seen him so mad in my life! Now, who's the lucky girl…Mona… Gabrielle… Sophie…_


	2. Thinking Up A Storm

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything but my two characters and plot. Gosh, this is getting repetitive isn't it?

**Summary:** I'm not going to write it again…. please go to Ch.1. Thanks a bunch!

**Thinking Up A Storm:**

The gentle snores from the four boys became repetitive. Breathing in, breathing out, in, out, in…

" 'Lisa," yelled Remus, toppling out of his bead, hitting his head on his dresser table. "OH, oh that hurt…" He was breathing hard. Suddenly realizing it was just a dream. As he was bringing in his surroundings…

"Remus, git, it's two thirty in the morning. You know, some people sleep. You know the word, smarty pants, SLEEP," grumbled Sirius into his pillow.

"Hey Remus, are you okay," asked Peter, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Mountains of pumpkin pasty wrappers tumbled off his bed and onto the floor. Remus sighed. Now there's another mess to add to the collection.

"Mooney, who's 'lisa," asked James slyly. That's the thing with James; he can be sly at any time of the day. Remus flushed, his eyes darted around the room.

"Uh…s-she…s-she…I-I-is…uh," stuttered Remus, looking down at his hands, the wall, anywhere but his friends' faces.

"Moo-oo-ney, this doesn't have anything to do with Melissa, does it? Oo-oo-ooh, Mooney has a crush, Mooney has a CR-,"stopped Sirius, his mouth suddenly filled with cockroach clusters. A red-faced Remus hesitantly put his wand to his side, glaring at James and Peter, daring them to make jokes.

"Uh…just curious, Mooney," James started, slowly gaining confidence," do you have a crush on Melissa? I mean, it's cool if you do and all, just…" he gulped, "asking."

Remus sandwiched his head between two pillows and a muffling sound could be heard, "Mph."

"What," cried the two, empty-mouthed Marauders.

"Mph."

"WHAT?"

"Yeph."

"Well," sighed Peter with a gin on his face, "that's as good as we're going to get." Glad to get his feelings out to his friends, Remus sat up. It was time to plan.

**Meanwhile...**

"…and then, he had the nerve of asking me out! Again! Potter is such an idiot! An imbecile! He can't even do a single thing right! He's just so…"grumbled Lily, scuffing her shoes to the ground. I smiled, knowing that she always acts annoyed, even when she's amused. Just because he's James Potter.

"Irresistible," Janette finished with a smug look on her face. I could see what she was up to and decided to join in.

"And loveable," I added.

"And don't forget HOT," concluded Alice. Suddenly, the three of us stumbled to the floor, cackling with amusement. Lily glared sternly at us, her face suddenly breaking into a smile.

"Come on, people, I meant adjectives like 'stupid, idiotic, and barbaric' but if your describing him like that because he's really your heart's desire, be my guest."

"Yeah right, Lily Vanilli, we know you have your eye on him whether you like it or not. How let's go to the Great Hall, I'm starved," I laughed, marching towards the Great Hall. Alice, Janette, and Lily marching not too far behind.

**15 minutes later...**

"Padfoot, have you thought of anything yet?"

"Prongs, why are we depending on Padfoot for ideas? We know they're going to turn out disastrous. Why don't we think of an idea on getting you and Lily together? Doesn't that sound like a better idea? Huh, Prongs? Huh, guys?"

"Oh, shut it, Mooney, let's not get off topic. Padfoot, have you thought of anything yet?"

Silence.

"Padfoot?"

Even more silence.

"PADFOOT!"

"Aagh…ck…ack…ack," Sirius yelled, getting bacon bits stuck down his throat. Remus half-heartedly flicked his wand and Sirius breathed hard.

"Air, sweet air," he cried. "Plan? Oh yeah, I thought of a plan, but it's not just for us. You see, it's for all the Gryfindor guys! Well except for Mark Wodershine, he still hasn't paid me my seven galleons… but for everyone else. We'll be heroes! Can't you just see it? Us walking down the corridor, girls falling at our feet, the wind in our hair…yep, that's the life. Well, as long as Madeline Arkinson stays the hell away from me, she's been after me since I dumped her friend, Mad…wait, HEY…that was her! Hey, what do you know-," blabbed Sirius, his eyes glazing over as he stared into the distance.

"Uh, Padfoot," asked James uncertainly. His best friend had gone over the edge. It would take more than bacon to revive him. "Merlin, he's just like Peter after beating his record by eating 384 continuous pumpkin pasties! Just drifted off into space, he did."

"I did not! I was unconscious," Peter rebelled but slightly amused that he was being compared to the great player himself, Sirius Black.

"Thank goodness they're fighting instead of talking about a plan," murmured Remus.

"Thanks for reminding us, Mooney. Hey Wormtail, help me think of a plan," James remembered, glad to get back to the topic. With his problem, Remus had a hard life to live, and James wanted to help make it easier.

"Please, James, don't do this. I don't want you to prank her into liking me; she'll like me on her own accord. Let's think about you and Lily, shall we? Don't you agree, Peter," begged Remus, trying his hardest to make James think again.

"No way, Mooney, this is for your own good."

"Fine, let's take a vote on this. Sirius doesn't count, doesn't matter either. Don't say it's unfair, James, because he's acting as if he's been stunned." Remus was right; Sirius had his head in his bowl of porridge. You could see the air bubbles floating up towards the surface. _How can he breathe with his head in porridge_, thought Remus in wonder,_ maybe he has gills or something._ He shook his head, "No, Padfoot's vote won't matter. Who says we should change the subject to Lily and James?"

Remus's and Peter's hands flew up.

"And who votes we should stay on my…er… topic?"

James hand flew up too fast, hitting Sirius's chin on the way up. However, Sirius just kept daydreaming without notice.

"It seems you are outnumbered, James. So, what are you going to do about Lily?"

If only I knew," James sighed, looking down the table. Remus followed his gaze and saw the four girls sitting together laughing. Remus smiled, hey were practically falling out of their seats. Alice was stuffing a piece of melon in her mouth to cease the laughing while Janette was busy pounding the table with the palms of her hands. Lily had her hands over her face and was shaking uncontrollably, but Remus knew she was laughing along with her friends. And then there was one… Melissa was making hand gestures, each one more intense than the one before. Apparently, she was telling a story to her friends, making it funnier by adding intense facial expressions and hand gestures. All of a sudden, she pulled a disfigured look upon her face. Shocked by the sudden expression, Remus began to laugh extra loud, which made everyone at the Gryfindor table stare at him intently, waiting for an explanation. _Oops,_ he thought, _great way to blend in._

**Please, please, press Review and REVIEW!**

**Author's Note: Thanks to all of you who reviewed! You are all super awesome and super cool and you all should be awarded the best reviewers award! Thanks!**

**Fork-tofu-pingpong-fish: I'm sorry but I wrote this chappie this morning and I didn't get your review till this afternoon! I hope you like the story anyway!**

**Poisonedcherries: Thanks for reviewing, you good friend, you! Hope it's as good as I told you it'll be! **


	3. Putting It Together

**Author's Note: Oh, oh, oh, all you reviewers are the best ever! I'm so serious; you are the people that make writing this story worthwhile! Love ya'll! Please review again at the end of this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of J.K. Rowling's, just my characters (the ones I made up) and this plot. **

**Putting it Together:**

"You know, Remus, I think that Padfoot's idea is pretty good. I mean, girls just falling to us. Think about it, I'll have Lily, you'll have Melissa, Sirius will have his latest one night stand…what can go wrong," asked James, who was apparently deep in thought.

"Two things, Prongs, that you seem to have overlooked. One, you and Sirius **always** have girls chasing after you, and two, it's evil and unfair. They'll be doing it unconsciously! Don't you feel that this plan is kind of… oh, I don't know… STUPID," exclaimed Remus, as they walked down the corridor towards Charms. They were the only two from their group to be walking since Peter was held back in Potions because he fell asleep, which was really stupid since he sat in the very front, (**A.N. Prof. Slughorn moved a few people but doesn't have actual assigned seating)** and Sirius was too busy snogging Polly Monet, a sixth year Hufflepuff, in an empty classroom near by.

" But Mooney," James whispered as he swung the dungeon door open," aren't you the least bit curious?"

"C'mon Prongs, let's finish this conversation some other time."

The two boys sauntered towards their seats, which happened to be right behind Janette and Lily and across from Alice and Melissa. This seating arrangement was just a huge party just waiting to happen. Remus pulled out a clean sheet of parchment and his Potions textbook, scribbling down furiously the notes that were written across the chalkboard. James, however, pulled out his two-way mirror and scared Sirius into coming to class.

_A unicorn hair is highly powerful,_ Remus thought as he wrote it down,_ it's used in more potions than one can imagine. For instance,_ A piece of torn parchment was launched and ricocheted off Remus's arm and onto his notepaper. He sighed, unfolding the note:

_Mooney_, the note said, _what do you think about the idea? Now don't act stupid, Mooney, I know you know what I'm talking about. So what do you think? I know it's pretty stupid and all, but I swear, it won't be just an old love potion, I'll make sure of it. So, are you in?_

Once more, the piece of parchment sailed across the middle of the lab table, finishing it's second journey by landing onto James's open palm. Grinning, he read:

_I'm not sure, Prongs, I'm still worried. I mean, if it has something to do with love potions and Padfoot, I'm pretty sure something'll go wrong. I mean, what if it poisons them and they have to go to the Hospital Wing! James, we're talking about **all** the Gryfindor girls now, not just Lily and Melissa. You get that, don't you? Don't act daft, James, think of the consequences!_

James smiled, shaking his head. Remus always acted this way, and James knew how to convince him into helping with the plan.

_Mooney, I just have one question. Aren't you the least bit curious to find out if Melissa likes you? And if she did, how she would act? Now don't go soft on me now, tell me the truth._

And so the note flew again…

_Yes, I guess I am a bit curious. And about the plan…_

**Meanwhile...**

Apparently, the boys weren't the only ones to write notes. Even though Lily furiously tore down her sheet of parchment with notes and definitions, Janette busied herself by scribbling random comments onto torn pieces of parchment and launching them towards the table across from them; which consisted of Alice and Melissa, who giggled uncontrollably. Even when Lily threw her meanest glare at them, they kept on giggling and snorting like there was not tomorrow. A few notes were:

_Mr. Plow, that's my name that name again, is Mr. Plow!_ (**Author's Note: For those of you who watch the Simpson's, this is the one where Homer starts his own snowplow business. That's practically my favorite one! Simpsons rule!)**

_I'm your lover; kiss me!_

_Slap me, baby, one more time!_ (**Author's Note: I know I'm dissing Brittany Spears, for those of you who like her, I'm very sorry. I personally don't. Sorry again for making those of you who like her, feel bad!)**

And of course…

_Marauders are such gits, why can't they leave us alone? Oh no! I think a little bit of Lily rubbed off on me! No studying for me, NO WAY!_

With the amount of note passing in the classroom, you would think that Professor Slughorn would notice, but he was too busy playing favorites.

**After class...**

"Did you see Sirius hobbling into class five minutes before the bell? That was hilarious! The only thing I can't stand is how he never seems to get into trouble. He just flashes a wide smile and there goes all hope for wizardkind. That little bastard, he's not even worth the words I'm saying. Anyway…anything else new," asked Janette, hoping to spark a conversation among her friends, all who were too tired to chat along.

" I don't know what it was, maybe Binns or McGonagal, but I'm feeling like I've been drinking something that's been drugged," I sighed, warily looking at my pumpkin juice goblet. "Maybe I have been, anyone want to switch glasses?"

" I'll take it, Rovers," answered a deep voice from somewhere behind me. I spun around seeing that all four Marauders began to cram next to us, flopping onto the seats that separated us from a third year giggle-fest. Out of the blue, Sirius grabbed my goblet and drained the rest of its contents. I stared at him in disgust, glanced at my friends and noticed that they were doing the same.

"Sirius, are you sure you wanted to do that? That could have been drugged, you know," sighed Alice, slightly shaking her head after noticing the look of confusion on Sirius's face. _I never knew someone could act so stupid_, I thought, suddenly ashamed. I saw Remus shake his head as well and spark a conversation with James. Peter was making a mashed potato mountain, as usual, pouring gravy in the middle and adding barbequed chicken legs around it, keeping the mountain in its circle.

"Lily, I think you should move over, you're totally shoulder-to-shoulder to Valerie Carlson," whispered Alice urgently, tossing Valerie an apologetic look. Valerie half-smiled and went back to join the giggle party. Apparently, Lily kept scooting towards her right, trying to get the farthest away from James as she could.

" Why so down, ladies? It's a Friday; it's time to par-tae! C'mon Hoovers, dance with me." And with that, Sirius pulled Janette from her perch and began to spin her around…

And around…

And around…

And accidentally letting go…

And bumping into Peter, who was holding the gravy bowl…

Which flew in the air…

Spilling gravy all over the person who was in front of him…

Who happened to be me.

The sticky liquid started to ooze down my hair, which I straitened that morning, and down my shirt and skirt. Slowly wiping my eyelids to make sure that none of the sauce would burn my eyes, I stared at Sirius and Peter, partners in crime, gawk at their mistake. Everyone was staring at me, even the Slytherins. I bet even Professor Dumbledore was staring at me, the gleam in his eyes shining brightly, but no smile on his face. At least, there better not be.

"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD," shrieked Alice jumping off the bench and starting to help me up. "Oh god, Melli, come with me, we have got to get you cleaned up." Still in a daze from being pelted with brown paste, I got up and walked out of the Great Hall, dripping with every step I took.

The Great Hall stayed silent; the only thing heard was the sound of the headmaster telling everyone to eat once again.

"I'm glad that got taken care of," James sighed loudly, getting back to the feast that sat before him. Lily stared and mumbled, actually fuming inside. "Now, back to business…" And that was the last straw.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LOT ARE JUST GOING TO SIT HERE WHILE OUR FRIEND WAS PUBLICALLY EMBARRASED IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL! DO YOU HAVE NO DESCENCY? DO YOU NOT CARE? DO YOUR FRAGILE LITTLE MINDS NOT WORK? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YEAH, YOU TOO POTTER! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? GOD, JUST TRY TO THINK ABOUT OTHERS FOR ONCE WHY DON'T YOU?"

And with that, Lily Evans stormed out of the Great Hall leaving the others to just stare after her. After a few minutes, the usual commotion and chatter filled the hall once again.

"I guess I better go too. I'll see you later James, Remus, Peter… Black." Janette glared coldly at Sirius and stalked out of the room to help her friend in need. Which left the Marauders to themselves, to plan "the plan".

"See what I mean, Prongs, that Sirius's ideas always get ruined by his lack of brains? See what I mean now," explained Remus, who felt too upset about Melissa to think about anything else.

"Hey, I'm sorry, ok? See what I mean, us guys will never understand girls, so my plan will do an extreme favor for all the guys in Gryfindor! C'mon, Mooney, Prongs and Wormtail are all for it. Join in on the plan, man," exclaimed Sirius, stretching, putting on his most laid-back smile.

"Ok, so I've made my final decision. I'm…not going to do it. I really don't want to get in trouble for what I'm didn't do or for what I'm not even remotely interested in. You guys get the girls your way; I'll go my way. But if you don't mind me asking, how are you going to do it? What's 'the plan', anyway," asked Remus slightly curious. He knew that he should look uninterested but the Marauder inside got the best of him.

"Don't worry, Mooney, I'll tell you in the dorm. We can't let loose ears listen, now can we. Little disappointed in you, Mooney, but that's ok… you've always been the do-it-the-right-way-guy now haven't you? That's ok, we're proud to uphold the daredevil spots…well, me and James anyway," Peter glared. "Now…to the Marauder Dorm… away," reported Sirius, and off they went. _Please don't make Sirius, James, and Peter get expelled_, Remus prayed, _they don't know any better. Really, it's not their fault that they're too stupid to listen to their consciences. _And with that, Remus followed the others into the sixth year Gryfindor boys' dorm, ready for anything.

**In the dorms...**

"Ok, so here's the plan. I was thinking about a love potion"

Someone snorted but Sirius continued.

"Except not **just** a love potion, a love potion that has an extra protection spell on top. So, you know, none of the professors can take it off. Maybe, we can use a charm that needs a password to undo… like 'Sirius is great' or 'Sirius is hot' or-."

"Or how about 'Sirius better hurry up or else this isn't going to work and I'm going to curse him into a million pieces'," snarled James, suddenly tired and cranky, laying his head on his pillow already half asleep.

"All right, all right. Cool it. Anyway, we can add a safety charm on top. Now don't look at me that way, Peter, I know it seems too hard, but never fear, Sirius is here! I researched-."

"Gasp!"

"Sirius Black in a library **not** snogging! This must be a miracle!"

"Snort! Ha ha! Sorry, I just can't picture that, it's too impossible. Pigs will fly…no wait… Snivellus will sprout wings and fly before that happens!"

"Well, he'd better start flapping then, because I **did **go to the library yesterday after D.A.D.A. Actually, Madam Pince and the other library-goers had the same reactions too! Weird, huh? Anyway, I found out there are such things, password lock charms, and all. I'm not sure if we can do it over a love potions or if charms and potions are allowed to mix-'n- match, but we can always try, right? So, what do you all think," concluded Sirius, proud of his idea, finding no flaw in his plan.

"I'm all for it! When do we start," asked the ever so faithful Peter, as he frisked his pillow for any lost pumpkin pasties.

"Knew you'd be excited, Wormtail, now it's all up to you, Prongs. Are you for it?"

"Sure, what have I got to lose, Lily hates me already."

"Alright," finished Sirius, flopping onto his bead, soaking up the comfort like a sponge. " Mooney, you sure you don't want to join in? It's going to be a ton of fun!"

"Yeah, I think I'll pass and see how you all do without me. I'm feeling wiped out, probably because of the three sets of double classes today. 'Night," said Remus as he lied between his mattress and sheets, conking out as soon as his head hit the pillow.


	4. Lights, Camera, Action?

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of J.K. Rowling's ideas or characters and stuff, just my own thoughts, ideas, and all that jazz.**

**Summary: There's no point in writing this now, is there?**

**Author's Note: All you reviewers! All you wonderful reviewers! Oh, and all you awesome readers! Thanks a bunch. Here is a special thanks to:**

**Janine: Your constructive criticism is totally needed here! This is my first fanfic and I totally need the advice! No, there won't be 4 couples, that's totally stupid and predictable. I'm glad you liked how I wrote up the characters; I tried my very best! The first person view is in Melissa's viewpoint and third person is just…well…third person! I can't describe it any better! Sorry 'bout that! Anyway, thanks for reviewing and I'll update as soon as possible! **

**Hazelocean: Of course, I'm trying! I have an immense case of writer's block. I'm just writing this story as I go along. I'm not good at planning a plot, you know? Thanks for reviewing!**

**Lights…Camera…Action?**

"So, I've got it! I've finally got the final plans down… I'm so excited; this has got to be the best idea I've ever thought of! Better than any prank! This is amazing! I can't believe it! It's actually possible! Sirius Black outwitted Sirius Black! I'm a genius," Sirius yelled, frolicking like a five-year old girl around the Marauder dorm.

" Sirius, calm down, when do you think we should do this thing," asked James, leaning in to take a look at the plans that were scribbled onto the crumpled parchment. Remus sat on his bed, leaning on his elbow, taking in 'Hogwarts, A History' for the millionth time (used without hyperbole) during his whole stay at Hogwarts. This doesn't count how many times he read the book at home. Prying his curious eyes away from Remus, Peter sat across the parchment from James.

" What are the latest updates, guys? Sirius," asked Peter, a suspicious look coming across his face, " what are you doing?"

Sirius had leapt onto one of the free beds, through a pillow out of its case, pushed his head snug through the opening, and tried to do somersaults while jumping from one bed to another.

"Huh? Oh yeah, the plan…just got a bit overjoyed there. Sorry 'bout that," Sirius claimed, yanking the pillowcase off his head. As the three Marauders were settling around the parchment, Sirius began to read off what he had written:

"Patricia, will you go out with me. Of course I will…WAIT, wrong side. Sorry 'bout that, mates. I'll flip it over. Ok, there we go," Sirius coughed to regain the attention of the other two boys who seemed to be moving to the opposite ends of the room: James looking out of the window, spying on Lily and her friends, and Peter, who apparently found an old treacle tart stuck to the back of his bed's head board, eating happily and ignoring Remus's look of disgust.

"Hello? C'mon men, we don't have all year. We only have two weeks," with saying that, Sirius got the other boys rushing back, "yep, that's it. Now, I think we should have it during Halloween, what do you say, Prongs?"

" Perfect, Padfoot. You know how the punch at the Halloween feast always changes every year; the girls will never know they're drinking the potion by looking at it. And after they realize by drinking it, it'll be too late!"

" Brilliant, Prongs, brilliant. Now, the potion takes a week to make, so we'll start next week. You know the rule, don't do today what you can do tomorrow," Sirius sighed, laying down on the floor and closing his eyes. Remus rolled his eyes and thought, _they'll never get anywhere without my help. That should make them give up on the project._

" Ugh, Padfoot," squeaked Peter, not wanting to disturb his friend, " Where are we going to do the…uh…plan? What if we mess up and burn a hole in the floor and it leaks into the fifth year's dorms? They'll rat us out **(no pun intended)** for sure!"

Sirius mumbled, his eyes still closed, " Good thinking, Wormtail, how about the Room of Requirement? It'll work fine." Opening one eye, Sirius said, " You know what? I'm bored, why don't we start that potion now?" And so the four boys trooped out toward the Room of Requirement, Remus at the end with book in hand.

**Meanwhile...**

At the same time the boys were in their dorm, us girls were heading towards their dorms from the lake. We walked in silence until Lily finally spoke, " Those Marauders have been awfully quiet for some time. I wonder what they're up to." For a few minutes, she lingered back, thinking, and finally ran to catch up to us.

" I think that if Potter says 'Will you go out with me?' one more time, I'm going to hurl."

The rest of us braced ourselves, knowing that the never-ending lecture was looming towards us. I'm serious, one time I timed Lily's Potter rant and it went on for five hours. FIVE HOURS! It was non-stop, and the time we were in class, she actually tossed us notes! And **she's** the studious one!

As Lily blabbed on…

And on…

And on…

And on, Alice, Janette and I were mentally forming a plan. Finally mouthing the final touches, we lead Lily towards the girls' restrooms on the second floor, the one where Moaning Myrtle inhabited. The girls and I knew that whenever Lily got into a restroom, she just had to go. While Lily excused herself, the rest of us headed towards Moaning Myrtle's stall and asked for a favor. Although Myrtle doesn't like most people, she had a close bond with Alice; the two of them became friends when Alice was made fun of in first year. After seeing Myrtle's delighted nod, we raced out of the restrooms hearing Lily's screams all the way to the dorms.

**After the torture...**

" So called friends, don't even know how to wait for me. Stupid Myrtle, making all the toilets blow up. Why did I leave my wand in the dorm? It's freezing," grumbled a sopping wet Lily, her teeth chattering as she walked up towards the dorms.

As she walked onwards, she was a small white light bouncing towards her. Surprised she yelped and flattened herself on the wall, not wanting to get caught by a Slytherin, or worse, McGonagal. The light came closer, bobbing up and down…up and down…

**Meanwhile...**

" Darned Sirius. So we should split up shall we? So we should look for the room ourselves, locate the others, and call them, shall we? Great plan, Padfoot, you idiot," mumbled James to himself. The Marauders had been talking animatedly and found themselves in an unfamiliar corridor **(I know, not possible, right?)** and decided to split up and try to find the Room of Requirement, each man for himself. By leaving the Map in the dorm, all four boys found themselves in different quarters of the castle. The only one who wasn't lost was Peter, who apparently found himself in the kitchens.

Walking even further down the corridor, James heard a gasp. Thinking it was one of the paintings on the walls, he tiptoed onward, this time hearing the light thud of a body leaning on a wall. He turned to his right and there stood…

"Potter?"

"Evans?"

"What the heck are you doing here," they both asked. James suddenly realized that Lily was soaking wet, her uniform fit snuggly around her, hugging her bare flesh. _Wow_, he thought, _she looks HOT!_ Tearing his eyes away from Lily's chest, his voice finally got out of his throat, enabling him to ask her:

" Why don't you wear your clothes that way, everyday?"

Lily's emerald eyes, gazed down at her uniform and back up at James's shocked face.

" Excuse me?" Her eyes flashed dangerously, James gulped.

" Uh, I mean…uh… I mean…uh…I-uh…w-what hap-appened to you?"

"Nothing you should be concerned about, Potter, now let me pass." James suddenly realized he was standing in her way got up the nerve to say:

" At least let me take you to the dorms, you can't see without your wand. It's pretty dark."

To his surprise, Lily gave him a little nod, and let him lead the way out of the darkness.

**10 minutes later...**

" Hey, Padfoot, Wormtail! I found it! Finally, know where did James go?"

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all met up at the kitchens, their usual meeting spot when they lost the others. Apparently, James forgot about that and kept going deeper into the darkness.

"Hey, there he is! Hey, Prongs! Oi, there's Lily too! He came with Lily! Wha-" Remus spun around, clamping his hand over Sirius's mouth to keep him from talking.

"Shut it, Padfoot, do you want to wake up the entire castle? I mean," by then Lily and James showed up and Remus didn't want Lily to find out about 'the plan'. "What's up with stone? He he…don't you think it's just odd how the founding wizards built this castle out of stone. Uh…it's a bit cold, don't you think? I think I'll step away…that way…away from here. I'll see you around now, Lily!" And with that, Remus took off and hid in an empty classroom, waiting for Peter and Sirius to come around the bend.

" What a shame that Melissa fancies him…" Lily shook her head, not noticing the looks she got from the three leftover Marauders.

" She what? She-,"cried Sirius joyfully, only to be interrupted by Lily.

" That's not important right now, and it's none of your business. She can fancy anyone she wants too. So, what are you all crowded around here for? Aren't you supposed to be in your dorms?"

" You know, I could be asking you the same question." _Stupid Padfoot_, thought James, _doesn't he know whom he's talking too? It's not bloody Peter, you know. Think!_

" I had a run-in with Moaning Myrtle an hour ago and left my wand in my dorm before that. So here I am, soaking wet, wanting to go to sleep, questioning you…crazy, asylum worthy boys, asking why you're here. Now, WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

" We…came down to get something from the kitchens. The food down in the Great Hall just isn't enough to fill us up, you know."

"You know what, I don't even care. As long as I get enough rest, and you four don't cause chaos, the entire wizarding world will be fine. Now if it's all right with you lot, can one of you please take me to the dorms, it's bloody dark in here."

And with that, she stalked off, having James tail her like a lost little puppy.

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading this chapter; I know I'm writing short chapters but please deal. What's going to happen now that Sirius, James, and Peter know that Melissa likes Remus? Are they really going to go along with the plan? Is Lily finally going to see that James is really obsessed and loves her? Will she forgive him if she does? Find out in the next chapter of '99 Percent Hate, 1 Percent Love'. **

**Thank you all! Now REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**


	5. Ready, Set, Go!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has come from the thoughts and ideas of JK Rowling or any of the other talented authors.**

**Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks to the most awesome reviewers ever! (I know that I say awesome a lot, sorry 'bout that! ) Special thanks to:**

**Bridsta05: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the compliments and by the way, I thought your story was excelente (Spanish, man), amiga! Have an awesome time reading this chapter!**

**Ready, Set, Go!**

" YOU SAID WHAT?"

" I'm sorry, Mel, it just slipped out!"

" But… but…"

" He wasn't there, he ran off! He couldn't have heard me."

" But his friends! Oh, Lily, how could you? I tell you **one** thing, **one **secret, and it gets blabbed to the whole school!"

" Don't cry, Mel. Lily, I think you should give her some time."

Sighing, Lily patted my back and walked out of the oak door. Leaning against Janette's shoulder, I cried. _Could my life get any worse?_

**10 minutes later...**

Strolling down the stone corridor, Lily shook her head. _Why did I say that out loud_, she thought, _it's against our code of friendship_. All of a sudden, Lily collided into a tall, muscular being.

" Oh, sorry…wasn't paying attention… thinking…" she mumbled as she dusted off her cloak. Finally looking up, she saw that she had bumped into the one and only, James Potter. Suddenly, a million questions whizzed into her head, each one more important than the last.

"Potter, we need to talk," she spoke coldly.

" You finally got to your sensed and decided to go out with me then? Well, isn't that a relief. That means I don't have to go along with the…" replied James, oblivious to the hatred in her voice.

" You know what I mean, Potter," she said, " this way now."

**Meanwhile...**

"Ok, so we won't tell Mooney."

"Wait, Padfoot, why not?"

" I told you already, Wormtail, how could you forget so quickly?"

" I just want to clarify…"

"Fine, we can't tell Mooney because then he'll try to stop us from doing the plan. If he comes between the plan and us, none of the Gryfindor Guys will ever be able score the chicks they've had their eyes on. And I know you, Wormtail; I can tell you've got your eyes on Janette. Well, to get her, we've got go with the plan. See? We can't stop now!"

" Ok, ok… I've got it." So, with that, Sirius and Peter scurried down the corridor and into the classroom in which Remus was hiding.

" Why the sudden bit of cowardice, Mooney, no more marauder power," taunted Sirius while shooting a playful sneer towards Remus.

With color adding to his cheeks, Remus answered, " I know, I know, so what did she say? We're not in trouble now, are we? What did Lily say?"

" Ah, just the usual 'You'll get in big trouble, you idiots' and the occasional 'I'm going to report you all, I don't care if you're all Gryfindors or not'. We don't need to use the Floo Network; all we need is Lily's shriek to send information and gossip running."

" Uh… let's go Padfoot, Mooney, we should get the potion started now."

Looking at Sirius curiously, Remus sighed inwardly. He knew that Sirius was hiding something from him, but even wild hippogriffs wouldn't be able to drag it out of him. _I wonder what the big secret is_, he thought,trudging into the Room of Requirement. _Something's up, I can just feel it._

**Meanwhile...**

" So, what is it, Lily," asked James, leaning against the castle wall. His chocolate eyes drifted upward from the ground, catching Lily's eyes as they rose.

" I want to know what you were all doing outside the kitchens. I want to know why Remus was acting all jumpy and why Peter was acting shifty. I know they are all somehow connected and if you don't tell me what it's all about, I'll," Lily blurted out, her face turning the color of her hair.

James sighed; this wasn't any different from the confrontations he had gone through. " Ok, so the real thing is Remus was feeling a bit ill and Peter always gets squeamish when one of us gets sick. Poor bloke can't handle his stomach, that one."

" I know you're lying, James, you'd."

"You just called me James."

" No I didn't."

" Yes you did. I'm pretty sure I'm capable of hearing."

" You're out of your mind, Potter. I didn't say 'James'."

" See, you said it again!"

"Ugh, that was just an example!"

"Ok, fine, that was an example, but you do know that you called me James once before that time."

"JUST SHUT UP, POTTER! ANSWER THE QUE," shrieked Lily, before James's hand snuck around her and covered her mouth.

" Shush! You don't want to wake the whole castle now, would you?" All of a sudden, James felt something wet slide across his palm. "AHH! Lily, you really are disgusting ar…oh, ho, ho! You **wanted** to lick me now, didn't you. You bad girl, you."

" Ew, Potter, that's disgusting. I wish I had some soap to all the snob boy germs off my tongue," Lily spit back, furiously wiping at her tongue with the palms of her hands and the sleeves of her robes. "Now, back to business."

" Don't worry, Evans, the dorm will be clear of the other Marauders for about three more hours. Just get ready and I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes," quoted James breezily. For a second, Lily wondered how many times he said that to all the other girls he had gone out with.

" Potter," Lily spit out **(Author's Note: Not literally people!) **dangerously. "You know what I'm talking about. If you joke about that kind of stuff…" her hand made a slashing motion horizontally across her throat, " there won't be much to joke about. Now what's going on?"

" Uh…" James sprang to his feet and began to sprint down the corridor.

" YOU COME BACK DOWN HERE NOW, JAMES POTTER!" Actually, it was quite a wonder that McGonagal didn't come and give them both detentions.

**6 days later, also known as the day before Halloween...**

" And stir the liquid counter-clockwise seven times and once clockwise. Now, this is the result of your potion. It should be a deep, ocean blue color with white smoke rising from the top. Padfoot, is it ocean blue," Peter turned to find Sirius gazing into the cauldron. He had just stirred the potion and was trying to find the best word to fit the color of the potion.

"Well, it's turquoise." Spinning around to check if Remus was there, he said, " But that doesn't matter. It's close enough to blue. Now let's try to do the protection charm thing. Now where's that book?"

Peter's eyes widened in shock and thought; _did I actually hear **the Sirius Black** look for a book? Maybe it's just the lack of sleep…_

" Swish, swish, flick, and swish, and… Got it! Ok…now the potion's set. It's finally ready."

As Peter made his way towards Sirius, Padfoot began to pose as a knight in shining armor. " Peter, at eight o' clock tomorrow night all the Gryfindor guys and gals will be the happiest people to ever set foot into Hogwarts. And it's all because of the Marauders."

Yet the wondrous moment was interrupted by Peter, who began with, " Minus Remus, he decided not to. Oh Padfoot, are you sure that it's ok to use the turquoise potion? I think you messed up on the charm too; you never were too good at that. Uh…maybe we should have just asked Prongs once he got back."

" Peter, nothings going to go wrong, I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

**Author's Note: Famous last words, huh? Ha ha! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and don't worry there will be more action in the next chapter. I'm sorry this chapter is shorter than the others, it's just that I'm having a totally horrible case of writers block that only a ton of reviews can cure. (Hint, hint)**

**Review Please!**


	6. Doubling The Spotlight

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything written or thought of by J.K. Rowling. How can you all accuse me like that?**

**Special and a wonderful thanks to my friendly, neighborhood reviewers:**

**Bridsta05: Thanks for your awesome enthusiasm! I love to acknowledge each individual reviewer! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last. **

**Janine: Oh, nothing is wrong with this update. I just wanted to say that it'd be coming a little later. Sorry for the shock! I know, Lily's questions toward James are a little weird, but I kind of wrote the chapter as I was going on. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Anjay: I know! Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm trying to make it more random! Just read on, it will come soon. Ha, ha!**

**GerryK: Thanks for the review! I'll try to update sooner, I'm just having a little lack of luck in the department of ideas is all.**

**Alaska Steele: No problem! Whenever you need something to make you feel better, just turn on your computer and read the latest update! Ha, ha! I'm trying to make it funnier! Your review made me feel better, thanks for reading! I hope you're feeling better! Please enjoy this chapter and the next, and the next, and the next…. You know! **

**Guesswho: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you finally got to it! Keep it up and don't get down!**

**AnjaliMalfoy: Ha, ha! I know, it must be pretty awkward to review to someone's story like that! I hope you liked my story so far and that you'll like this chapter. And about your end comment, is that an insult or a compliment? Ha, ha! JK! Have a good one!**

**Author's Note: Yes, I know that all these notes and stuff are taking too much space and I should just get to the actual story. Hold your horses, people! I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for updating too late and I hope you are still enthusiastic about reading this story. Don't worry; I kind of have a point to this story in my mind. (Key word: kind of) Yes… so read on!**

**Doubling The Spotlight:**

Finally, Halloween had arrived and the four boys were either seen skipping class or not seen at all. Even the responsible Remus Lupin generously began skipping classes, his mysterious Marauder-self taking over his mind.

" There," James sighing huffily, " now the potion's almost ready for the feast. Padfoot, are you sure everything's going according to plan?" Padfoot nodded and began to salute. "Alright then, what do we do now?"

"Well, James, we could head to the dorms and get ready for the feast," claimed Remus, who was leaning against the castle's stony walls.

" Man, Mooney, you sound like a girl. We have an entire hour and you expect us to get ready? Come on, Mooney, what happened to you? Lost your make up bag," teased Sirius, slowly coaxing James and Peter to do the same.

_Great,_ thought Remus, slowly walking towards Gryfindor Tower,_ now I'll be stuck with this for the rest of the night. _And with that, the Marauders trooped up the moving staircases to their dorm room.

**Meanwhile…**

"Janette, tell us!"

" Come on, Janette, keeping secrets from your best friends is unhealthy for you."

" Yeah, uh… it'll give you…uh, bad breath."

" Oh, that was smooth Melli. Now she'll never tell us!"

" Hey, I was trying my hardest," I claimed. For the last half hour, the girls and I were interrogating Janette over what she was wearing for the Halloween feast. Even though Dumbledore never said anything about dressing up, this year us girls were all going to wear costumes to the feast. We all knew we would look like idiots, but we didn't care that much. _I mean, when your friends with Lily, you get over embarrassment pretty easily._

" No, I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to see in an hour. Can't you all just wait for an hour," Janette looked around at us. As we shook our heads, she sighed loudly, " You girls are the biggest prats I have ever known in my entire life. Even bigger than the Marauders, and that's saying something."

This had struck a nerve in Lily and Alice and I knew better than to stay around and chat. Slowly we turned around and… sprinted down the stairs that lead up to the sixth year girls' dorm. Panting hard, we both stopped once we got down to the Common Room. Suddenly we heard voices:

" God, Mooney, if you like her then you have to tell her! It's not that hard you know."

"Padfoot, I have no idea how we jumped our topic from turning Snape's hair neon pink to talking to her about liking her. However, you know I can't talk to her like that, you're the expert at girls."

As Alice and I looked at each other, we both knew it was Remus and Sirius talking. _Who are they talking about,_ I thought, looking around the corner too see them lounging on the cushy, comfortable sofas that laid across the fire. The conversation went on:

"Ok, fine. Here, I will show you how it's done."

_This should be good,_ I thought, trying to get a better view of the drama playing before us.

"Now, here we go. First, you sit next to her like so." Alice and I both saw Sirius strolling towards James and plopping down next to him. James had a bit of a frightened look in his eyes and tried to scoot away but Sirius held him down. Snickering, Alice and I watched to see what would happen next.

"Now, you try to spark a conversation. Well, hello there, Jam…ima. Yeah, Jamima! How are you today, _Jamima_? See that, Remus, you have to start with small talk. Then, she will reply." I saw James trying his best to struggle out of Sirius's grasp but couldn't. Apparently, Sirius was too excited about this lesson then to care if he was hurting James.

Slowly realizing that James was not replying, Sirius turned toward him, " Prongs, reply!"

Pausing his struggling for a bit, James replied confusedly, " What?"

"Prongs, you're supposed to play Mooney's lovey-dovey now help out why don't you!"

"Ok, ok. Let's start over," grumbled James, resuming his struggling.

"Ahem, ok. How are you, Jamima?"

"Uh, swell! Nice weather we're having," squeaked James in his best girly voice. Doubling over with silent laughter, I wiped the tears from my eyes so I could watch the lesson more clearly.

"You know, I really have something to tell you."

"Now, what might that be, Sirius?" Although James was having a horrifying experience right now, you could tell Sirius was getting caught up in the drama.

With a flourish, Sirius wrapped one of his arms around James's shoulder and used his other hand to pick up James's. "I liked you the moment I saw you. You are the most beautiful, smart, kind, generous, funny, sweet girl I have ever met. Jamima, will you go out with me?"_ Maybe he's getting _too_ rapped up in this lesson, _I thought as I saw Sirius leaning in towards James. So far, James didn't notice, since he was too busy struggling.

All of a sudden, something really, really awkward happened. I don't know what happened, maybe it was the Halloween spirit or maybe some weird, evil Gryfindor put a spell or charm or something else on Sirius. Whatever it was, it created the moment into the best blackmail ever created in history.

Ever so slowly, Sirius leaned in towards James, too into the "guy-asking-girl-out" lesson to notice what he was doing. Suddenly picturing a black haired, hazel-eyed beauty **(Author's note: He's thinking about a girl, ok. He's picturing a beautiful black haired, hazel-eyed girl.)** he leaned in, not noticing the look of horror on Remus's face.

As James slowly lifted his face up to face Sirius, Sirius came down upon him, connecting James's lips with his. Loud gasps could be heard. A shudder passed on from Remus, to Alice, and then finally to a few second years who were edging towards the wall and me.

Suddenly, I heard a popping sound beside me. I turned around, and there crouched a furiously blushing Alice holding a camera. "I'm sorry! I just want to catch this on film!"

I gave her a confused look. I knew as well as she did that many of her plans just never caught up to me.

"I'm trying to catch them on film so we can blackmail them! This will be the perfect torture instrument!"

_Oh,_ I thought in wonder,_ why couldn't I have thought of that?_ So we both crouched down, trying to find the perfect angle.

_FLASH!_ **(Author's Note: this is supposed to symbolize a camera's flash. I know, pretty pathetic.)**

"WHAT?"

"Who's out there?"

"GET OFF ME YOU GREAT PRAT! SIRIUS, I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT!" **(Author's Note: Hey, that rhymes!) **With that, James sprung off the couch and leapt towards Sirius. Noticing the dangerous look in his eye, Sirius fell off the couch and ran as fast as he could, up to the boys' dorm.

"Who's out there," called Remus. Very slowly, Alice and I showed ourselves. I could see a sudden terror in Remus's eyes and I wondered why. Giggling loudly, we ran up to our dorms to show Lily and Janette our newly restored Marauder-blackmail supply.

**Meanwhile…**

_Oh no,_ Remus thought, banging his head against the arm of his sofa,_ now she knows! She knows! Great way to tell her, Remus!_ Glancing at his watch, he realized there was only twenty minutes left until the feast so he trudged up the stairs two at a time to undo any curses that James had bestowed upon Sirius. _I guess I'll just tell her after the feast then._

**Meanwhile…**

"Oh no! My costume's torn!"

"This will be embarrassing!"

"At least I have a costume that can't be torn," I said, grabbing my costume from my four-post bed. It was just a simple sign that stated 'This is my Halloween costume. Pretty original, huh?' I got the idea off one of those muggle shirts I saw when I visited California with my parents.

"Ok, I'm all set."

"Me too!"

"My costume's still torn," cried Janette, poking at the rip with her finger. This just made the rip even bigger.

"Well, someone forgot she's a witch. _Reparo_," mumbled Lily while shoving Janette into the bathroom. "Now hurry up and get changed, it starts in fifteen minutes!"

After everyone claimed they were done getting ready, we all trudged down the stairs. By that time, there was only five minutes before the feast so we ran down the corridors nearly missing Professor Slughorn who was drinking his last bit of mulled mead before the night's end.

We shoved the great oak doors open, tried to ignore the confused looks of our fellow classmates, and sat down in the only seats left available. Or were kept available. Those seats were right next to the Marauders.

I watched the boys stare at us as the head spoke his famous Halloween feast speech.

"Why are you wearing costumes," asked Sirius, looking at us as if we were aliens from outer space. "What are you all supposed to be anyway?"

"Well, you dimwit, you can see I'm dressed as a cat. Alice there is dressed up as a hippie and Lily is dressed up as a gardener. I have no idea what Melli is," growled Janette shooting daggers at Sirius. All of a sudden, the boys' attention was on me.

"So, Smelly Melli, what are you," asked Sirius. I felt my hands tense into fists. I hate it when he calls me that.

"Why don't you read the sign, you can read can't you," I replied, grabbing a dinner roll and started munching. _That idiot just thinks he's so great. UGH!_

**Meanwhile…**

James watched Lily intently, trying to take it all in. Her fiery red hair was brushed back into a half ponytail and was kept up with a bandana. She was dressed in old, used overalls, sneakers, and a t-shirt. James had only rarely seen her in muggle clothes, only on the station at King's Cross or when they were waiting to exit the train back into muggle London. Currently, she was chewing on a stick of celery, looking at her friends, intent on joining in on the conversation. He sighed and then remembered the plan. Lily will soon like him, very soon.

The first girl to take a drink from her goblet was Alice. Taking in a large gulp, she set the goblet down and took notice of the smiling Marauders. Every now and then, a girl from Gryfindor House would drink from her goblet, suddenly feeling sick and lightheaded. Not noticing what was going on, Janette and I drank from our goblets, feeling thirsty from the dry bread. Suddenly, I felt my brain go numb. My head felt like it was expanding and collapsing at the same time. During the pain, I saw Lily finally taking a sip. Turning to my left, I saw the Marauders carry the widest grins I have ever seen. I knew something was wrong.

Apparently, Lily did too. She looked down the table and saw weird things happening to each Gryfindor girl. For instance, a fourth year named Mavis Furnley's blond hair was growing darker and darker until it hit a violet shade. A fifth year named Nancy Dillinger's head was growing to twice its size; it looked as if someone cast a bubblehead charm at it. Shocked, Lily look up and down the table, noticing that all the girls had purple hair and bubbleheads. And that was just the beginning…

I spun around in my seat, trying to take notice of the other girls. Some were growing boils on their arms and growing tails. I turned to Alice to see if she saw what I saw and saw that she was the final result of weird happenings. I looked around once more and saw that only the girls were harmed, not the boys. And that was when I noticed that the Marauders, the gits, had done something.

Tears welled up in my eyes; I couldn't see a thing anymore. All I knew was to follow my instinct, and so I ran. The last thing I heard was someone calling after me, but I didn't care anymore. All I knew, was that this meant war.

**Author's Note: I hope you all liked this chapter! Please click the cute, small 'GO' button and review, review, review!**


	7. Starting To Lose It

**Disclaimer: Nothing in this chapter or any of the others are copied from the great works of J.K. Rowling or any other author for that matter.**

**MonkeyLover: Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like this chapter as well as the previous ones!**

**NIKKITA SETHI: Thanks for the praise and cute joke. Ha, ha. I'm laughing my socks off. (Sarcastic, if you didn't notice) Oh well, I hope you like this chapter:)**

**Tristian'jess'loganluver: I'll try to update sooner! Oh my gosh, I love Gilmore Girls too! It's totally awesome! I felt really sad when Rory and Jess were no longer together; I never saw the episode where they broke up though. How did it happen? They were such a cute couple! Anyway, enough of my rambling (ha, ha!) I hope you like this chapter!**

**AnjaliMalfoy: Thanks for the praise! Yeah! I'm so sorry I didn't get you a candle! I'll do it soon, promise! Thanks for putting me on your author alert list, I feel proud! Now I'm high on sugar! Peace!**

**Nishfishee: I'm trying to keep the story interesting but still in its natural aura. I don't think it's working, huh? Anyway, about Remus, he's not in it at all. He was just surprised about the effects of the potions and what it did to Melissa, that's all. Enjoy the story!**

**Ralph: Yeah, I like ideas that other reviewers give me! It helps me brainstorm. I don't use the ideas directly; I just find a way to sort of help my story by rubbing the thought into it for a while. Don't worry about it, and what do you mean by "Do I want some cookies?" I don't get it. Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Author's Note: Thanks to all of you great reviewers! I'm glad you reviewed and I hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the previous chapters (if not more! Haha). Sorry for the long time on updating, I thought more people would be reviewing. I'm sorry for this "lecture on life" but I guess I shouldn't have counted my chickens before they hatched. Oh well, I guess you can't win them all. From now on, I'm going to try to update every week if not twice… I'll try my best. And also, I know I haven't been writing as much James/Lily but don't worry, I'll be adding much more from now on! But 'til then, have a nice time reading this chapter! Enjoy!**

**Starting to Lose It:**

The Great Hall stood silent, its inhabitants staring at the large oak entrance door and them at the Marauders. Sirius sat slumped with his eyes wide, staring at the girls nearest to him. Peter's eyes twitched as he saw Janette give him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. Remus had his head in his hands, his elbows on the table. No one saw him move and couldn't hear him breathing, which made many people believe he died right there. And then there was James. James sat upright; petrified that Lily would hex him when he wasn't looking. The Marauders had never been frightened by anyone until now. It was a surprise to see the boys on the edge of their seats, because of four girls.

Finally, after the Great Hall erupted with noise, Janette slowly got up, her eyes never leaving Peter's face. She slowly walked around the table's edge over to the side where the boys were sitting. Creeping behind Peter, she abruptly stopped, here hands curled into fists by her side.

"Peter, would you please come with me? I need help with my Potion's essay."

Peter gulped; he knew his end had come. Slowly, he looked towards Sirius, who finally tore his gaze from the purple, swollen headed girls around him. With a slight smile, Sirius nodded and turned his attention towards his now-smashed corn. Peter gulped.

"Peter?" Her breath felt cold against the back of his neck. He turned around and found Janette kneeling down, boring her eyes into his back. Looking back towards the other Marauders, he saw Remus with his head on the table. _I guess he really liked her… oh well; there are more girls out there. Like,_ he gulped_, Janette._

"PETER!"

The Great Hall silenced again. James suddenly took notice of his surroundings. _This is getting ridiculous_, he thought, _why do they keep paying attention to us? Don't they have anything better to do?_ Right then and there James knew what to do. He whipped around and glared at Peter.

"Go."

"WHAT? SHE'LL KILL ME, JAMES, AND YOU KNOW SHE WILL! DON'T YOU WANT ME TO LIVE THROUGH GRADUATION?"

"For Pete's sake **(A.N.: No pun intended)** get out there. How else will you graduate from here if you don't learn to duel? Peter, you're making a scene. JUST LEAVE!"

The group whisked around to find Remus finally up from his mourning stage. Now he was tiredly looking at Peter. James knew that the full moon was coming up, it was in two days in fact. He also knew that the stress from this prank-gone-wrong would make his transformation even more painful. Feeling sorry for his friend, James sorely looked at Peter.

"Peter, just go."

Slowly and fearfully, Peter got up and walked out of the large oak doors without a look back. And that was the last time they saw Peter that day.

**Three days later…**

Apparently the professors couldn't find the antidote for the entire potion mishap, but a very young Madam Pomfrey found separate potions that helped to get rid of the purple hair, boils, and bubbleheads. Even though getting rid of those factors greatly helped in the girls' appearances, they still had their tails. Since no one in the history of Hogwarts had ever made another student have a tail, none of the professors had the experience to rid the girls of their tails. And yes, that mean that they had to keep them until the professors could find an antidote.

Finally feeling sick of having to groom her tail every morning, Lily decided to head to the library to investigate. Fingering through different titles, she finally chose her top twenty and sat down to find all the information she could find.

"Tails, tails… different uses for unicorn tails, how to use fresh rat tails in modern potions… oh, this is no use! I can't find a single thing on 'getting rid of tails'!" With that, Lily thumped her head on her study table earning a loud 'shush' from the librarian. Red faced from embarrassment, Lily set back to work. She had to find the cure, there just had to be one somewhere.

**Meanwhile…**

_My other trainer_, James thought,_ where's my other trainer? I know I brought them from home; I was wearing them on the train ride here… Man, what kind of git am I? WHERE IS MY TRAINER?_ James tore through his dresser drawers and under his bed. In only ten minutes, he transformed the Marauder's dorm from a filthy dump into a tornado's masterpiece. Sprawling under his bed, crying for his trainer, James suddenly realized he had an overdue library book. Yes, yes. Even the Great James Potter visits the library, even if it means putting on a fake beard and oversized clothing. _Great, now I have a missing trainer **and** an overdue book! _

Forgetting about his shoe problem, James ran down the boys' dorm's steps barefoot. He never even realized that he didn't have any shoes on until he accidentally bumped into a little second year girl who in turn stomped on his foot and ran away. Groaning in agony, James limped the rest of the way there.

Shoving the library doors open and stumbling in, James finally supported himself by grabbing onto the librarian's desk. He never took notice of what her name was, so he just dubbed her "the librarian". Ignoring the angry glare, James tossed the book under her nose.

"I'msorrybutIforgottoreturnthisbookontimeandnowit'soverdoandI'mreallysorrycanyoupleaseundothefinenowthanks."James gasped as an attempt to get in some air.

The librarian passed him a stern glare. "What was that," she asked.

Finally catching his breath, James repeated his comment except much slower.

"No, I'm sorry. A fine can't just be taken off a student's account. Now that will be twenty galleons please, Mr. Potter."

"But- b- but-."

"Mr. Potter, will you be paying now or should I add this to your annual list of dues and give you the bill at the end of the year?" The librarian gave James a sarcastic glance and took out a large, heavy binder with leafs of parchment flying out from the center. Finally finding an empty side to a scrap of parchment, she wrote down the title of the book and the cost, stuffed it back into the binder, and slid the binder under her desk's counter. "Will that be all, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh…" James gazed around the room nervously until his eyes fell upon a certain redhead. He smiled. "Yeah, yeah. That'll be it." Without a glance back, James strutted down towards Lily whose nose was caught deep inside a book titled, "So You Have An Extra Tail". _I wonder what she's doing_, he thought.

Lily wrinkled her nose. She couldn't find the answer anywhere. For a whole three hours, she had been sitting there, pouring over books that she thought would have all the answers. She had even read some books that even she would never be caught dead reading, such as "Tales of Tails Seen Around the World". Yet even after reading all these books, she still hadn't come close.

All of a sudden, Lily heard a pair of footsteps coming towards her. _That's odd_, she thought, puzzled. Today was a Monday, and not many people liked coming into the library the day after the weekend. It just ruined their mood. The only people inside the library were a few clusters of fifth years and seventh years, the studious ones, who were already studying for their OWLs and NEWTs. The footsteps' echoing seemed to have stopped right in front of her. _I wonder who it is_, she thought, not bothering to look up,_ if it's bloody Potter he can just show himself out, I'm not going to waste my breath on him. _Raising her head to investigate, she saw that it sure enough was James Potter.

James's chocolate brown eyes peered back at her confusedly. "What are you doing here by yourself, Evans?"

_Nosey little bugger_, she thought while giving him a nasty look. "Well, thanks to your kind and helpful little prank, I've been spending every last spare moment I had to research on how to get rid of these tails now, if you don't mind, could you please just tell me the counterspell to get rid of them?" Lily was growing impatient and the last thing she needed now was the bratty flirt that now stood before her.

"Ok… sure. I'll tell you the counterspell."

"Really," Lily asked, genuinely confused. She had never seen Potter give in like that.

"Sure, there's only one condition."

_Idiot_, she thought. She should have known that Potter would never give in like that. "What do you want, Potter?"

"I'll tell you the spell if you…" James stopped, thinking. If he asked Lily for a kiss, like he usually did, she would definitely say no to the next time he asked her to go out with him. He had to think of another thing, but what?

"…If you tell me if Melissa really likes Remus. I think it's only fair for him to know if she likes him or not."

Lily sat back in surprise. She had never thought Potter, of all people, would do something for someone else just to help a friend. _I guess he's not much of a bugger after all._

"Um… ok. Well, by the way Melli is always acting, it pretty much looks like she likes him. But after that prank, however, I'm not quite so sure anymore. I think the prank changed her mind about him, it was pretty hurtful, you know. And all of us do have a daily reminder of it you know," she said replied, pointing to her tail to remind him of the task at hand. "Now, if you don't mind, can you please tell me the spell?"

Her question fell upon deaf ears, unfortunately. James stood in deep thought, his thoughts all leading towards Remus. _Poor Mooney, he didn't do anything. In fact, he was trying to stop us from doing anything in the first place. Great, we did this prank for a reason, and it backfired! Why does everything now a days just end up blowing up in my face?_

"Potter?"

_Mooney shouldn't be living through this, he doesn't deserve all this pain. Someone needs to talk to Melissa, this isn't right!_

"POTTER?"

This caught James's attention as well as the librarians. With a few quick words, all of Lily's things (not including the library books) sprang to life and flew out of the library towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Ah! My favorite quill," Lily cried scrambling up from her chair, running after her things. James chuckled, gave the librarian a quick but elegant bow (which resulted in a giggling librarian being shushed by the students), and ran after Lily towards the common room.

**15 Minutes Later…**

"…And there you have it," James concluded closing his notebook as Lily finally got rid of her tail. Smiling widely, he sat beside her making her move towards the opposite end of the couch. "So, about Remus and Melissa…"

"Yes?" Lily got up and moved to the sofa opposite the one she was previously sitting on.

"I was thinking that maybe we should, I don't know, talk to each of them separately and then go to the other and tell them what the previous one said."

"No, Potter, I don't think that'll work. We can't act like the messenger in their relationship. We have to let them talk this out. How about we talk to them separately and then make them meet the other and choose a date in which they can talk out their problems."

James smiled, saying, " You're a genius, Evans. I'll take Mooney and you'll take Melissa. See you in a while."

_Let's hope it's a long while_, Lily thought, getting up from her chair. She had to talk to Melissa before it was too late.

**10 Minutes Later…**

"LILY! WHERE'S YOU TAIL? HOW DID YOU GET RID OF IT! GET RID OF MINE, PLEASE! I'LL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND," I wailed as I saw Lily walk through our dorm's door. I lunged at her, giving her an enormous bear hug. Looking up, I saw that she had a solemn look upon her face. "What is it, Lils?"

"Melli, do you still like Remus?"

Her question stung me like a muggle bullet. _How did she know?_ "What," I sputtered.

"Do you still like Remus?"

"Who said I liked him."

" Melissa, I can just tell. Like the way you look at him when he walks by or the way he says your name. I see you just faint right then and there. It's not healthy for you to be mad at him, Melli. I think you should just forget this happened and just go and talk to him. He'll apologize, no doubt."

"And you're going to apologize James for what he's done," I asked sarcastically, knowing what the answer was. But Lily surprised me.

"Actually, I would. If I felt the same way for him as you do Remus, I think I would." Lily leaned towards me and gave me a hug. "I think you should go and talk to him, it'll all turn out ok."

"Ok, Lils. You win. I'll talk to him later. But for now, can you help me with this History of Magic paper? I can't believe Binns gave us this paper! Oh my gosh, could you believe it when he walked into the classroom through the wall yesterday? I just can't believe he died and he's still teaching like nothing happened. I mean…" And we both gossiped until it time to head to the Great Hall for dinner.

**Meanwhile…**

"Mooney, you need to talk to her."

"Prongs, it's not going to work. She doesn't even like me," Remus looked into James's eyes. James could see the hurt and pain shining like diamonds.

"That's not true, and I can prove it." Remus cast a curious glance at James, not knowing what to say. "The night where Lily found us in front of the kitchens. Remember that night?" Remus nodded his head. "Good, well, Sirius heard her ask herself why Melissa likes you. Now don't…"

The rest of James's words didn't matter to Remus. He felt like he was floating on air. _She likes me_, he thought,_ she really likes me._

"Yes!" Remus cried, punching a fist into the air. "Woo!" He started to dance around the dorm until he saw James's frightened face. "Uh, sorry 'bout that, mate." Feeling embarrassed about letting his feelings out like that, Remus plopped back down on his bed.

"So what should I do, Prongs?"

"Well, I was talking to Lily just a while ago, and we thought that maybe you two should talk together privately for a while, you know? To sort things out and all."

" What if she doesn't forgive me, Prongs, what if she's angry? What if she doesn't believe that I didn't do anything?" Remus buried his head in his hands and started to hyperventilate.

"Mooney, MOONEY! Snap out of it! Just try it, she'll hear you out. That's how she is, well, that's how you say she is anyway. Try it, if it doesn't work, we'll talk to her." James swung his arm over Remus's shoulder.

"Thanks James." Remus looked towards his alarm clock and jumped. "It's dinner time, we should be getting to the Great Hall right now!" And the two boys raced down the stairs to get a good look at the day's feast.

**10 Minutes Later…**

"Look, there she is, Mooney. Why don't you get this over with?"

"Yeah, Mooney, it's just a girl. Nothing to hurt yourself about." Sirius grabbed a dinner roll and stuffed it in his mouth, oblivious towards the look of anger seeping through from James.

"Here I go, wish me luck mates."

"Go Mooney," cried Peter, suddenly choking on a piece of carrot that he was chewing on.

Shaking his head, Remus walked closer to the girls. It seemed that Lily had been the dear that she was and had gotten rid of all Gryffindor girls' tails. Tapping Melissa's shoulder, he quietly asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I was shocked and overcome by anger. He was really talking to me like nothing happened? Then I finally got over it, realizing I was just burning stress.

"Of course."

We walked towards the entrance doors, finally standing in the corner where the door's hinges attached themselves to the walls. Leaning against the stone, I waited for Remus to begin. It seemed like we were standing there for an eternity before Remus spoke again.

"Can we talk this over? It feels awkward knowing that I can't talk you since you're mad at me."

"Ok, how about tomorrow?"

"Can't. I have patrolling duty. How about Wednesday?"

"That would be great!" I suddenly found that a smile was creeping onto my face as well as on Remus's.

"Great! I'll see you then!" Then we both went our separate ways, keeping our feelings in until seeing each other again in two days.

**Author's Note: Oh no! What's going to happen in two days? I know that this is kind of shocking, but I feel like I have an actual story line I'm trying to follow! Amazing, huh? Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter! I made this chapter extra long so you would please forgive me for the longtime wait. Please forgive me! Oh, I have a poll for you. I don't think any of you will know the answer since none of you know me (well, some you do) but try your best!**

**What is the instrument I really want to play? Is it:**

**A)Guitar**

**B)Drums**

**C)Piano**

**D)Tambourine **

**Good luck at guessing correctly! And please review! Review! Just press the little box on the left that says "Go" and review! Thank you!**

**October 29, 2005: Yes, again! I edited this chapter as well as the 8th because they were both a little confusing! Have fun reading and please review! Thank you!**


	8. The Final Piece

**Disclaimer: The characters (except for a select few) and the whole Harry Potter idea both were thought up by the great J.K. Rowling. All hail. Oh yeah, I thought up the plot, that's another thing written up by me! Don't sue!**

**Thanks to all you reviewers! I just wrote the seventh chapter a few days ago and getting all that sudden feedback just made me feel like writing another chapter for you guys! Thanks a bunch! And for all you people who answered to the poll, here's the correct answer: THE DRUMS! Yeah! I'm pleased to say that a lot of you got the write answer! Great job, I'm thinking of posting a new poll each chapter, so I hope you all have fun with those! Well, I'm really sorry to say that I can't reply to your reviews anymore. I have no idea why, but a fellow author told me. I'm really serious! (No pun intended!) So sorry! Please accept the apology and enjoy this new chapter!**

**The Final Piece: **

As Tuesday's moonset and Wednesday's sun rose, the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry awoke. The day had only begun when a large commotion broke out into full swing in the room at the top of the sixth year boys' dorm's stairs. **(A.N. Quite a tongue twister, huh?)**

"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU STOLE MY OTHER TRAINER! YOU GIT, GIVE IT BACK," cried James as he lunged after Sirius who was currently digging his hand inside James's shoe.

"Hold on a minute, Prongs, I'm trying to get out my toothbrush."

"What the heck is your toothbrush doing in your shoe, Padfoot," asked Remus, who was thoroughly disgusted. He had just taken a shower and suddenly had the urge to take another.

"For safe keeping."

"Who puts their toothbrush in their shoe for safe keeping," asked a worried Peter, walking up to Sirius and putting a hand on his forehead. "You're not sick are you? Are you all right?"

"Padfoot, did you put the shoe on after you put your foot in?"

"Yes…"

"OH MAN! NOW I HAVE DOG DROOL IN MY NEW TRAINER! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH BUYING MUGGLE CLOTHING COSTS IN DIAGON ALLEY, SIRIUS? I PAID THIRTY GALLEONS FOR THOSE TRAINERS! NOW YOU SHOVED YOUR DIRTY, STINKING TOOTHBRUSH INTO MY TRAINER," James fumed. Out of the blue, he sprinted after Sirius. Sirius let out a feminine scream and leapt behind his bed resulting in a large bump on his forehead.

"DANG IT! Ow… ow…" Sirius whimpered. He then lay dramatically on the floor crying in exaggerated pain every few minutes.

"I swear, Prongs, you're turning more and more into a girl every day," commented Remus while folding his bath towel and reaching for his Transfiguration textbook.

_He's one to talk_, thought James, loosing his anger by the second.

"OW," cried Sirius, "I'll get you yet, James Potter!"

"Oh, shut it, you git. Get up, we're going to be late for breakfast," stated Remus, yanking Sirius up from the ground and ignoring the insults that headed towards him. There was no way he was going to be late for Transfiguration again just because Sirius was being the selfish idiot he was.

"Hey, where's Peter," asked James, grabbing his cloak. Peter was right there a second ago.

"Um… maybe he's at the Great Hall, already," mumbled Sirius, whose head was being smothered by being trapped in his t-shirt.

"Let's go then, and whoever's touching my shoulder, please move it," replied Remus as calmly as he could since he was quite freaked out that one of his friends was starting to touch him.

"Oh, sorry Mooney. Now, off we go," cried Sirius shamelessly. Leaping up, he ran out of the dorm room followed by the two other boys.

**15 Minutes Later…**

"Hello ladies," Sirius said suavely. He slid his arm around Janette's shoulders to which lead to a blackening eye. "OW! OW, MAN! GET AWAY FROM ME! PETEY, SAVE ME MAN!"

"Padfoot, you bugger, stop bugging **(no pun intended)** the ladies. Hello there," James said, copying Sirius's antics and also got the same result from Lily.

"Gits," mumbled Remus, who sat next to Melissa and forcing a piece of toast in his mouth. "Those two can really act stupider than that purple dinosaur… what's his name again?"

"Barney," asked Lily.

"Yep, that ugly guy who sings 'I love you, you love me, we're a happy….' Who cares?"

Remus slowly leaned over the table to speak to me in private. "Where should I meet you to talk? Later?"

"Yes, we should meet after classes. Wait, Slughorn gave me detention for this afternoon… how about in the evening, around nine? Is that ok," I pondered while buttering my toast.

"Of course," Remus whispered leaning back in his seat. He was excited to finally get a chance to gain Melissa's trust once again. He hadn't done anything in the first place, and with Melissa finally trusting him again, he could forget that this had ever happened. "Ok then, we'll see you in a bit, girls. See you all in class."

As three of the Marauders got up from the table, (Peter was too busy stuffing his face with English muffins) they tapped Peter on the shoulder to signal him that they were leaving. Peter jumped and quickly tried to lift himself off his seat, resulting his foot getting caught in the bench and making him fall backwards into a Ravenclaw girl who had her nose stuck in a book. Squealing loudly, she backed up into the Ravenclaw house table, shoving the dishes of food into her friends' faces. Looking around at the angry Ravenclaw faces, the boys followed their instincts and decided to run. Before then, I never knew that someone could run so fast. Those Ravenclaw girls must be really wild… and comparing them to Lily and us girls, that's really saying something.

**During Potions…**

"…Fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty! Ok, Padfoot, pass me the phoenix dust."

"Huh?"

"The red-orange one."

"Oh! Here you go, Mooney. Whoops," shrieked Sirius as he let go of the bottle that held the phoenix dust resulting in a cloud of dust spreading throughout the air. "Uh, Mooney, care to head over to the supply cabinet?" Seeing Remus's face, he decided to rephrase, "Mooney, would you mind if **I** went to the supply cabinet? That'sgoodpleasedon'tmindmethankyou!" And with that, Sirius rushed over to the other side of the room in search of a place to hide from Remus's wrath.

_Oh, now Mooney will be after me all week! And to top that off with detention for Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts! Why couldn't I have broken Mooney's jar some other day_? growled Sirius at his own thoughts. One of his best friends was down in the dumps and was head over heels in love at the same time (_Little bugger **had** to fall in love **this** year. Why not next year? Just my luck_), the other was drowning his phoenix dust-related sorrows by trying to scrape up as much phoenix dust from the other students as fast as possible to finish the potion on time, and his final friend (and follower) was currently hiding from the Ravenclaws (even though they didn't have this particular class with the Gryffindors.) Peter was thoroughly spooked and hid as soon as he got into the potions classroom.

Sirius was currently looking under an empty desk at the front of the room, when out popped a head.

"Augh," Sirius screamed, backing into a wastebasket and falling onto the ground. "Please, don't eat me! I won't eat another muggle candy stolen from Mooney's suitcase again! It was just that one time; please don't punish me for it! Spare me!"

"Sh," whispered Peter strongly. He was hiding from the roaring Ravenclaws, Sirius should have known better than to push him into the open! "Padfoot, the Ravenclaws are out to get me, what do you **not** understand in that sentence? Tell me, I'll specify!"

"There you are, Wormtail! I thought the Ravenclaws finally ate you." Peter shot him a filthy glare. "Not that they would of course. They would just slowly maul you and then… yes, I'll shut up now." Sirius then slowly crept away, his eyes glued to Peter's, making sure that Peter wasn't going to hex him for his slip of tongue.

_Now I'll just_, Sirius began to think but was soon interrupted by the bulging Potions professor himself, Professor Slughorn.

"Sirius Black! Why isn't this a surprise? I suppose you are out to make mischief are you not." Glancing around the classroom and easily spotting the other Marauders, he added, "And alone, today, I suppose? I really enjoy your antics, you know, they really brighten up our days during this dark period. Keep it up, lad. I hope to see you at my Slug Club dinner?"

"Uh," replied Sirius, trying to inch away but kept getting caught by Slughorn's massive stomach. _How many sweets can one human digest anyway_, Sirius wondered as his stomach was beginning to cave in and his ribs were starting to curve inward.

"Oh, please, Mr. Black. I know that you're going to be pretty busy since Christmas is coming over, but you really must pace yourself on those pranks. That makes it easy to be available for the Slug dinner!"

"Well…actually…" Sirius's wand fell to the floor. As he tried to scrunch down to the ground, Slughorn's stomach rammed its way onto his cheek, hitting it to the wall. "Mmph… Demphla…mphi."

"But then again, if you do have a date for that night, please go right ahead. I see you **are** the one with the ladies, I presume? Try to maintain that, lad; it might actually help you sometime in your life. OH! It seems that young Randolph Huchinson has set his cauldron on fire. I swear that boy just needs to be sent down to learn with those first years. Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Nph pumphif…" Sirius mumbled, coughing for air as Professor Slughorn waddled off to poor Randolph who was in need of some assistance. Clutching at his throat, Sirius crawled back towards Mooney, which actually wasn't a great idea.

"Sirius? Where's the phoenix dust?"

"Well, Mooney, didn't you see me back there? Slughorn was trying to kill me by suffocating me…"

"WHAT?"

"Uh… it was all **his** fault," claimed Sirius, pointing off at a random direction, unexpectedly pointing off towards a now weeping Randolph Huchinson.

"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU MARCH YOUR WAY TO THAT CUPBOARD NOW! THERE IS ONLY A FEW SECONDS TOWARDS THE END OF CLASS AND…"

"Ok, class, that's the end of today's lesson. Please pour your potion samples in these small flasks and place them on my desk. Have a nice day! Oh, yes… your homework. Five feet on the importance of phoenix dust in modern potions. A quick tidbit, a nice thing you should really consider, always keep a spare jar of phoenix dust with you at all times. Enjoy your evening, children," concluded Slughorn, gathering his folders and heading towards his office.

"Humph, now he tells us. Pretty funny, eh, Mooney? Mooney," asked Sirius slowly turning around. Right there behind him was a fuming Remus Lupin; his eyes bulging out of their sockets while his hands were pulled into fists. "Mooney?"

"Gurdipulm…alibavadero…meshikawa…" mumbled Remus incoherently. His eyes were locked with Sirius's, his face turning an awful shade of purple.

"Uh…what was that, Mooney," asked Sirius, hesitantly.

"Kill…. Black… now," Remus answered, and with that, the two boys sprinted down the stairs Sirius seeking safety and Remus seeking revenge.

**In The Evening…**

The gang (if you would call it a 'gang') was seated down to dinner, to the girl's distaste; the boys on one side while the girls were on another. Before getting up to leave, Remus rushed over to my side to ask me where we should meet.

"How about just outside the Forbidden Forest? No one ever keeps lookout over there. Is that ok," I suggested, looking into his cocoa eyes.

"Sure. I'll see you there." I could sense from his voice that he also wanted to talk this through. I guess our friendship really meant something to him, like my friendship towards Lily, Janette, and Alice was.

"Ok, I'll see you then. Come on, girls, we have to finish that Potions essay. Only Merlin knows how bad I am. Please, Lily, can I copy your essay. I promise, I'll edit some stuff," I pleaded, grabbing Lily's arm. She groaned as she saw my puppy eyes.

"No! Not the puppy eyes! Melli, come on! When will you learn and get better at Potions if you don't even try. Just write it yourself," Lily complained, grabbing her arm away from me. And with that, we stumbled out of the great oak doors of the Great Hall only to wander down the cold stone corridors of Hogwarts Castle.

**Back at the Gryffindor Table…**

"Uh… Mooney," started James passing off a disgruntle face, "You **do** know that the full moon is tonight, don't you?"

"Holy shit!" Remus responded banging his head against the table earning confused glances from the people sitting around him.

"WHAT?" asked Sirius; now his eyes were the ones bugging out of their sockets, "HOW CAN YOU BLOODY FORGET, MOONEY, YOUV'E BEEN GOING THROUGH THIS PRACTICALLY YOUR WHOLE LIFE. HOW CAN YOU BLOODY FORGET THAT YOU'RE A-."

Somehow, James's fist blocked Sirius's jaw from blabbing anymore by keeping it still. "Stuff it, Padfoot, we don't want the whole school to hear! Now, Remus, how **could** you forget that it was the full moon tonight?"

"I know this sounds corny and totally cliché, but I really wanted to tell Melli what really happened with that prank. I have just been floating on air from the last time I talked to her… when she said she would hear me out. I just couldn't believe that she would say yes." Remus looked down, ashamed of himself. Suddenly, he abruptly sat straight up. "Wait! I'm meeting Melli in a few hours! I can't make it though! She'll think I stood her up! What am I going to do?"

"Don't worry, Mooney, I'll take care of it," sighed Peter, getting up from the table. He sat through the entire drama and finally decided to help out his friend. "Now if you'll excuse me, I too have to think about that Potions essay. Till tonight." He leapt to his feet and scurried out of the Great Hall as fast as his tiny legs could take him. Sirius and James looked at each other with amusement and fear. Tonight was going to be an interesting night.

**Author's Note: Dum, dum, dum! What's going to happen now that the full moon is tonight (in the story, that is)? Find out, on the next chapter of 99 Percent Hate, 1 Percent Love here at Everyone, let's give them a round of applause! There you go! Thanks for reading and please review! (I'm really sorry about not being able to reply to your reviews! I really thought that was one of the most fun parts of writing a story and posting it online. You reviewers are definitely the best in the world. Now, please press the little "GO" button and get reviewing! Now here's the chapter's poll:**

**What is my favorite (out of these) band or singing group?**

**A)The Click Five**

**B)Jimmy Eat World**

**C)Destiny's Child**

**D)Blink 182**

**Have fun guessing and please review soon! Have fun!**

**October 29, 2005: Hello! I know this chapter was thoroughly confusing so I edited it. I hope it's much better now! Thanks for reading and I'll reply to reviews from now on. Sorry for the notice at the beginning!**


	9. A Crack In The Sun

**Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter was thought up and created by the great J.K. Rowling. Everything in this story is by her, except my plot and a couple of my characters.**

**Author's Note: So very sorry, everyone! I've been totally busy, my school has been bombarding me with projects! Who knew freshman year would put me in a daze? I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in quite awhile, as you have read the excuse above, I hope that you will forgive and forget. Now, I must warn you, this chapter will be a bit gloomy, but fear not! The story shall get better, scout's honor… except I'm not a scout. Does that count? **

**Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you all:**

**SINDHUJA: You were right! Thanks for reading and guessing! Hope you like this new chapter!**

**Dragonriderhp: I feel great getting you out of your slump! Always stay Harry Potter- y. (If you can, of course) Don't let life get you down! Anyways, thanks for guessing, but it was the drums. I'm sorry for not updating on Wednesday; will you forgive me? You were half right on the "band" poll. I'm sorry for putting up a chipped up chapter, I hope you read the edited version! Hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

**Misty ocean blueberry: Thanks for reading and enjoying! Oh yeah, and thanks for reviewing too! I hope you like this new chapter and I'm sorry for not answering your review sooner! Enjoy!**

**Seethehalo715: Thanks for staying so optimistic. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic here.) Well, it's nice to know that you're trying to guess what's going to happen. I know that my eighth chapter was quite confusing, that's why I edited it. Please read the edited version! Have fun!**

**Unknown: Thanks for the praise and GREAT GUESS! Yep, the drums are my destiny; I can just feel it.**

**AnjaliMalfoy: I'm glad you feel that my story is progressing; to me it's just staying there like a stick in the mud. Maybe I should just sit down and update more often. (I can hear the screams of happiness echoing in the background.) Yeah, maybe I should. So close yet so far on the "band" poll. I'm posting the results at the bottom!**

**Taylor-leighyoung: Thanks for the review and praise! I hope you enjoy this new chapter and have a great Thanksgiving. (I know I'm saying this early, but who knows when I'm going to update next. I can already hear the groans in the studio audience.) Just kidding! Have a great day, though!**

**MonkeyLover: Uh oh, spaghetti- oh! Nope…I'm going to yell out the results in the end, after all the reviews to the reviewers are over. I edited the eighth chapter; did you read the new version? Sorry about the mix-up! Read and review!**

**Fork-tofu-pingpong-fish: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'll post the poll results after the reviews. You were very close though (and you're totally right about the blinks); they _are_ gods, man! They are totally awesome! Anyway, you'll find out at the end of the reviews! Peace and enjoy!**

**ILUVme: Thanks for the enthusiasm! I'll totally try to update way sooner now a days. I hope you like this chapter!**

**Yellowducky: Sorry about not updating sooner; I didn't know anyone was actually going to get upset about it. I've just been going through a tough time lately, that's all. Enjoy.**

**Genie in a bottle D: Thanks for the awesome praise and I say, "Go for it!" for the new fanfic. What's it going to be about? I'm all ears for any questions and I'm all set for giving advice! Hey, do you go to the same school as MonkeyLover? Yeah! I'm glad to be of help and I feel so happy that I actually inspired someone! Thanks for making my day, good buddy! Enjoy!**

**Phew! There sure were a lot of reviewers! Thanks, guys, we finally reached over 50! Everyone clap! Clap like you've never clapped before! Yeah! Ok, so for those of you who took part in the "band" poll, here is the answer: THE CLICK FIVE! It was a close race between all of them (I actually put up all my favorite bands, except for No Doubt and Gwen Stefani) and it was a really hard choice but in the end I choose The Click Five because of their song "Just the Girl", which I think is the sweetest song! Listen to it, all of you who haven't, I really like it. Do you? Anyway, enjoy this new chapter! Sorry for being late on the turn in!**

**A Crack In The Sun:**

To Remus, the world felt like it had reached a stand still. The clock on the Hospital Wing's wall had stopped two hours ago; it's metal hands gleaming as the lit candles danced aimlessly at the tops of their wax bases. Remus wanted to get up, to race outside to the Forbidden Forest, to speak to Melissa, to stroke her hair, to make everything all right… yet he knew he wouldn't be able to do that. Peter had told him that he would take care of the situation, but Remus had never trusted Peter with something this important in his whole while of knowing him. He closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of cleansing alcohol and bandages.

Remus lay on his back, his eyes aching and his throat sore with thirst. He tried to reach for the goblet of water that stood tall on his bedside table, but his arm felt like it had turned to lead and lay loyally by his side. Sighing inwardly, he stared at the ceiling. _Only a few minutes_, he thought sadly_, only a few minutes until the transformation._ The nurse from the Hospital Wing had gone to the Divination professor's office to hand over to her a bit of rubbing alcohol that she needed. Sooner or later she was to enter the large oak doors that lead to the infirmary to collect him, and he would be off to the Shrieking Shack, where he would await his untimely doom that he had been knowing about since his last horror-filled night.

_I wonder if Peter has a plan_, Remus though solemnly,_ he better not tell Melli that I just forgot about our meeting. He better not…_ There was a slight bang on the opposite side of the large doors and a creak, as the nurse stepped into the dimly lit room.

"It's time, Remus," she called, her face a stony gray color. Indeed, it was time.

**Meanwhile…**

"Ok, so here's the plan, Peter," Peter mumbled to himself, slowly crawling down the Marauders' dorm's stairs. He knew that he had to speak to Melli; he just didn't have an idea what to say. _One wrong thing could screw a relationship_; he remembered what Sirius had said. Of course, he was one to talk. Kissed one girl one day and slept with another the next. _Crazy bloke, that Sirius_, Peter thought, his eyes gazed dreamily at the wall across from him_, treats girls real lousy, but gives off great advice. No wonder people like him so. Focus Peter, FOCUS!_

"Focus Peter, focus…" Peter mumbled, his foot getting caught inside a backpack sling. _I've been doing that a lot lately_, he sighed forlorn_, tripping._

"Oh my, Peter, are you ok?"

Peter gazed up, his eyes finally catching onto Melissa who was furiously stuffing bits of extra parchment pieces and inkwells into her backpack. She hadn't gazed up at him, supposing it would make her waste precious moments that would make her late for meeting up with Remus at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Watching Melissa scurry after a rolling inkwell, Peter sighed. She wasn't going to be happy that she wasn't going to meet Remus tonight. Peter gulped with nervousness, he still hadn't thought of a plan. _Think, think, think…_

"Peter?"

Melissa now stood above him, gazing confusedly at him. Wondering what was going on, he glanced around and noticed that he was still sprawled against the floor.

"Er…"

"Peter, what's wrong? Is there anything I can help you with? You look kind of flushed, do you want me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"

"Er…Remus…"

"Oh! What about Remus? Is he ok? What's wrong? Is he already outside? My, I have to hurry…."

"NO, no…" Peter gulped, his fear slowly disappearing, " no, Remus forget that he had to meet you. He was…uh…er- doing his potions essay! Yeah, that's right. Doing his potions essay, what a studious lad…"

"What?"

Peter looked into her eyes and nodded his head. He could see the look of confusion on her face. _Uh oh_, he thought, _she's going to cry any minute…_

"Um, Peter, Remus and I did that essay together yesterday after Muggle Studies. There's no way he could be doing that now, we did it together."

This was not the reaction he was looking for. His nervousness grew.

"Uh… well, uh- he…er…um…er…"

"Peter, do you have something to say, or are you just going to sit stand there all day. I really should be going. Remus is waiting for me." And before Peter could complain or make a sound, Melissa had left the Gryffindor Common Room and headed out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Peter sighed. _This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all and for some reason, I have a bad feeling about this._

**10 Minutes Later…**

Peter rushed down yet another fleet of moving staircases. He had to meet James and Sirius so that they could get to Remus in time for the transformation. Finally reaching the empty classroom, Peter thrust the door open and flung himself inside, totally out of breath.

"What happened to you, Wormtail, finally found a girl to snog?" asked Sirius, who was snickering playfully at Peter. Looking back towards James, who was gazing intently at the Marauder's Map, he joked again, " Hey Prongs, Wormtail caught himself a girl! Just look at him, what a snog he had!"

James raised his head, tearing his eyes of a dot marked "Lily Evans" to take a glance at a gasping Peter. With a cry of joy, James replied to Sirius, " Oh, Padfoot, the little ones **do** learn so fast! I remember when he was just a short little potato; look how far he's grown! Snogging girls in what were probably our old closets. Isn't that just precious?"

As Sirius and James joked on, Peter gasped a final gasp of breath before passing out on professor's desk. James and Sirius stared at each other, their looks filled with shock. This was not good.

**5 Minutes Later…**

With the help of a certain invisibility cloak, Marauder's Map, and a simple locomotor spell, the two boys laid the third onto a Hospital Wing cloak and explained the predicament to the nurse, who shooed them away. She didn't want to deal with these Marauders anymore, couldn't they learn how to behave for once?

The time was well on its way towards eleven and the boys knew that they should hurry up, the clouds would be parting soon and the moon's rays would be hitting their friend soon. The two friends stumbled down the stairwells and pushed open the great wide entrance doors to find something that would delay their rescue mission. The Weeping Willow.

**2 Minutes Later…**

The moon's light leaked in through the spaces between the boards that made up the shack. _Why me, why today,_ sighed Remus, letting in the light. He couldn't stand the wait any longer, that's what made up half the pain. He reached towards an extremely creaky board, knowing it was unstable from experience. Pulling it aside, he let the light hit him head on. Remus stood there, taking his last second as a human to glance at the pure white full moon. But before he could take in the beauty, his body reminded him of what was supposed to happen, what was destined to happen.

Remus's body shook slightly, his back curving inward. Short grayish hairs sprouted all over his body, his bones stretched longer and became more wolf-like. His mouth and chin grew outward, slowly transforming into a snout. His hind legs curved more than usual and pads popped out of the bottoms of his feet and hands, which were now becoming paws. His ears pointed out and his fangs grew outward, both final touches to his transformation. Remus let out a blood-curling howl, he needed blood and he needed it now.

**Meanwhile…**

James and Sirius slowly staked out towards the Weeping Willow and pondered about how to get through the tree. _Why did Wormtail **have **to faint today,_ James thought in anger. _Why couldn't he have fainted tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the next! Dang it!_ Lying down next to Sirius, James looked up at the stars. The sky was clear today, and the moon was brighter than it ever had been. _Poor Remus_, thought James sadly, _this must be the most harmful transformation he had ever been through. _

All of a sudden, there was a loud thump that could be heard from somewhere inside the tree. Only Sirius and James knew where it was coming from, it was from the Shrieking Shack. Another thump and a loud wail of wood being torn in half could be heard, and within a few seconds of the high pitched noise there was another blood-curling scream and a full grown werewolf could be seen. Standing on his hind legs glaring at the two boys, Remus snarled and bolted straight for Sirius. Without a second's hesitation, the two Marauders quickly transformed into their animagus forms. Leaping out of the way, they let the werewolf Remus stormed through the gap between his former friends.

Remus sniffed the chilly air, the pupils in his eyes growing larger rapidly. He smelled human blood.

**Meanwhile…**

_Where was Remus_, I wondered. I'd been standing right at the edge of the forest for a half hour now and I couldn't wait for Remus to show up so we could talk this over.

"Where is he," I wondered out loud, my fingers slowly giving into frostbite. All of a sudden I heard a snarl, as snarl that didn't sound real or safe.** (A.N. But then again, when does a snarl sound safe?)**

Slowly turning around, I saw a large gray beast leaping towards me, followed by a stag and a large black dog. _The grim_, I thought fearfully. My mind was racing with different memories, thoughts, and fears. And then my mind averted back to reality, that I really did see the grim.

I felt like screaming, but it got caught in my throat. The creature matched a picture that was in my third year Defense textbook: this creature was a werewolf. _A WEREWOLF_, I screamed in my head. I could almost feel my eyes expand in size.

The werewolf was intercepted by the stag, which only held the creature down for two minutes. Next came the dog, which only lasted three minutes. It seemed like every time something stood in its way, the werewolf knew exactly what to do to get to its prey. And its prey, this time, was me.

**Meanwhile…**

Remus could smell the human's fear escaping her body like heat. The suspense and longing for human flesh and blood was overwhelming, it just had to be his, and he had to have it now. The longing was too much; he had to dispose of his animal friends, for right now anyway.

The girl was right in front of him; he could taste her flesh already. There was no one to hold him back; there was no one to push him aside. He could finally get what he wanted, and there was nothing to stop him from getting what he wanted. She was right there for the taking, he knew he just had to take that final leap, and she was his.

Remus leapt onto the girl, hind legs pinning her to the ground as his forepaws kept her from getting up. Knowing that he had her in the bag, Remus bit her fiercely on her cheek and moved down to her arm. As she bled profusely, he knew that he could finish her off. Remus never attacked an actual human before; he had always been stuck inside the Shrieking Shack attacking himself. Now that he had an actual human, he could finally quench the thirst that had been aching him since the bite he had received.

Remus tore at the human, his claws digging into her skin and pulling downward, causing deep gashes to form on the girl's arms and legs. Her cheeks bled strongly and so did the cut from when her head banged heavily against the stone-covered ground. His hunger for human flesh was just starting to get quenched when a large black dog forced him off of the human girl. Growling, Remus hunched up, but never actually got a chance to move out of the way. A large stag forced his antlers into Remus's stomach, forcing him into the Forbidden Forest. Remus was thrown back, the back of his head banged against the bark of a large tree. Slowly, the world around him was turning black.

_Must eat more_, he thought, slowly becoming unconscious, _must eat…_

**10 Minutes Later…**

James walked towards Melissa as Sirius made sure that Remus would stay unconscious for the rest of the night.

"Is she ok, Prongs," asked Sirius, sitting across from his best friend on the other side of Melissa.

"I don't know, let me check the pulse." James knelt down and put his hand against Melissa's wrist. It felt cold and lifeless; it shocked him. Just by feeling that, he knew the answer.

"Padfoot," James's voice shook, his eyes were averted towards the ground, "Padfoot, I…I-I think she's dead."

**Author's Note: Well that sure put a damper on things, huh? I told you that this chapter would be pretty gloomy. Tell me if you like it or not, so please review! Here's the next poll:**

**What's my favorite TV show?**

**A) The Simpsons**

**B) Gilmore Girls**

**C) Smallville**

**D) The Apprentice**

**Review, review, review!**


	10. Trying to Fill In the Gap

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the great works thought up by J.K. Rowling or anyone else for that matter.**

**Thanks to all you reviewers out there! You definitely made my day! The answer to the poll is "The Simpsons". The Simpsons and Gilmore Girls are two of my favorite shows, thanks for taking part in the poll! Now, a special thanks to:**

**Seethehalo715: Thanks for reviewing and enjoying the chapter! I like to add a bit of unexpected pizzazz to my stories! I hope you liked it, even thought it was a bit sad…and gloomy.**

**AnjaliMalfoy: Thank you! I know, poor Remus. His life has been pretty tough, huh? Well, no duh! I mean, of course he's having a hard-knock life, he's been a werewolf since he was a child! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Kendra: An author does what an author wants. Don't question her. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Sindhuja: I know, really dramatic! I felt like writing a dramatic chapter, I hope it wasn't too dramatic. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you continue reading! Enjoy this new chapter!**

**MonkeyLOVER: I'm so serious; I didn't mean to hang up! I was too excited! Thanks for liking the plot; I'm trying really hard! I know, some stories are balanced but I don't want my story to be. I like it to be action packed and full of adventure! I hope you like this new chapter! **

**Genie in a bottle D: I read that book! And its sequel! I liked the first one way better though. That's a great book to write a story on, I mean, you can get a ton of good ideas! You're guess on Gilmore Girls was really close! New poll at the end of this chapter!**

**Yellowducky: It's ok about your last review, I have a little brother and he can get quite annoying (ahem that little berk…) so, thanks for the praise! I'm trying to make it more funny and romantic, but I guess if someone's writing about early Voldemort days, the story has got to be a little scary. I've seen The Apprentice a little; it's fun to see the people get kicked off the show. Just Kidding! It's not my favorite, but it's fun to watch.**

**ILUVme: Only in a few parts of this story, there will be few scary parts. I'll get back to the funny stuff in about two chapters or such. Till then it'll be recuperating, moping, and mourning. Have fun reading this chapter!**

**I'm sorry, folks, but this chapter is just going to be a filler chapter. I need one for the next chapter to get into full gear. Sorry! And now, it's time to head towards the story! Have fun!**

**Trying to Fill In the Gap:**

The two boys headed up back towards the castle, leaving Remus in the forest to be taken care of the next morning. Melissa's lifeless body hung in the air floating next to Sirius's head as if haunting him, telling him it was his fault she had been attacked. Sirius whimpered uncharacteristically and rushed to James's left side, the side that wasn't occupied by a floating dead body.

Sirius coughed, signaling he was going to speak. He knew the timing wasn't right, but this just had to be said.

"James, what are we going to tell Remus?"

Remus. Sirius's words struck James like lightning. His mind was racing at the speed of light. What would the girls do when they found out their friend had died? What was Dumbledore going to do about her family? Would Remus be expelled from Hogwarts? Remus. The name flashed through his brain. Poor Remus. The poor bloke had been through a lot and now he had murdered his first love. James's own thoughts hit him full on. Remus killed Melissa.

**20 Minutes Later…**

The two Marauders silently moved into the castle, even though forgetting that it was way past curfew, they knew that they should pay their respects toward Melissa. Quickly checking the Marauder's Map, the three teenagers walked briskly to the headmaster's office. As the word 'dueling' pried its way through James's lips, the stone steps started winding upwards toward the office. Stepping onto the escalator-like staircase, the teens waited for their 15 minutes with the headmaster.

"Headmaster," whispered Sirius as he pushed apart the giant oak doors.

"Yes, Mr. Black," the headmaster stated, getting up to see what was behind the two boys. His face grew pale and his eyes were no longer friendly but burst into a fiery blaze.

"What's going on here? Why is she…" His eyes lingered on Melissa's deep gashes and pale skin. "Is she… is sh-she d-dead?"

"Y-yes sir, w-we think she is," mumbled Sirius, looking down at the ground. James knew that Sirius couldn't talk right now; he knew that face. Melissa was their friend, their gang member. She was the person that was used as the guinea pig in their Marauder pranks, their secret keeper. She was Remus's first love; she was only sixteen. She was a great friend and believed in second chances. And that was why she had passed on.

"Sir," James finally spoke up, mustering up all his strength, " we know that… well, that she is… no longer going to be with us. We just wanted to inform you."

James's voice seemed cold but that was his only way to keep himself from crying. He pulled himself up, told himself not to act childish, and bottled his feelings. He had to get away from the corpse. Life didn't see real right then.

"Yes, of course," said the headmaster, coughing into his fist, clearing his throat. "I shall call up her parents. We will have a ceremony in a few days. I'm sorry for your loss." The headmaster laid a hand on both the boys' shoulders and gave them both sorrow-filled looks. The two boys nodded and glanced back towards their classmate.

The two boys took their last glance towards their good friend as they set off in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Their footsteps echoed through the empty stone corridors, their breathing became rhythmic and slow. As they reached the tower, the portrait of a fat lady started on her full moon rant. It was amazing how she never noticed she always gave them a lecture every full moon.

"MR. POTTER! MR. BLACK! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT-?"

"Um…excuse me. Some of the other portraits and I were trying to sleep here," yawned a portrait of a young girl, who oddly looked somewhat like Melissa.

"Oh! Oh, dear me, I'm sorry. Carry on then," apologized the fat lady, embarrassed from being caught off guard. "Now back to you boys," she whispered, "where were you? What have you been doing? And where is Ms. Melissa? She missed one of our daily chats and that is not like her…" The portrait stopped talking once she saw the grave looks that were pasted upon James and Sirius's faces.

"What happened? What happened to Ms. Melissa?"

James whispered the common room password while Sirius angrily glared at the portraits that were now listening in on their conversation.

"Mr. Potter, close this passage way right now and tell-"

By now, the Gryffindor tower passage was open and the common room could be seen. The two boys rushed up into their dorms and locked the door. That was enough action for one night.

**The Next Morning…**

"OH MY! WHERE'S MELLI?"

"I don't know; how should I know?"

"Don't look at me; I didn't hear her come into the dorm last night."

Chaos broke through the sixth year girls' dorm room. Doors flew open and slammed shut, clothes flew everywhere, and Alice's cat began hissing loudly after spotting an incoming scarlet and gold scarf about to fall upon his head.

"AH!"

"Whoa," shrieked Lily, accidentally stepping on a pair of socks, which set her skidding across the room. "Ow…what happened, Janette?"

"What if she's in the boys' dorm?"

"JANETTE! She has enough sense to know that she shouldn't 'Do a Parkinson' and sleep with someone!" Lily blew up at Janette. She couldn't believe one of her best friends would think like that!

"Hey, all I'm saying is that maybe Remus and Melli decided to get a little… ahem… reacquainted after their little fight…" Janette left off, looking far into the distance while making a fake dreamy face.

"Oh, Janette, you're too right. I'm going to check right now! I remember that time with Frank-," Alice turned around startled as Lily and Janette burst into laughter.

"So _that's_ who you were with that one night. We thought you drowned yourself in the lake or something," cackled Janette, joining Alice at the door.

"No, no… I, u-um…I-I was in the library! I was studying for our History of Magic midterm. W-why didn't you check at the library?" claimed Alice, crossing her arms across her chest. She was getting more and more comfortable with her lie.

"We did! Did you think that Lily of all people would forget to check the library? I swear, that girl spends more hours in that hellhole than the librarian," grumbled Janette, who began to reminisce over their past library experiences. _Studying for a Potions final, studying for a History of Magic final, writing up a four foot essay on hinky punks for Care of Magical Creatures…those good old times_, she thought, looking out the window.

"Uh, Janette? Earth to Janette, calling Janette! Do you read? Over!" Forgetting that Janette was a pureblood for a moment, Lily called Janette again and again…

"Huh? What the heck's that supposed to mean?"

"Why don't we just get Melissa and head down to the Great Hall? I'm starving," groaned Alice, putting on her cloak.

As the trio headed up to the Marauders' dorm, they noticed something strange. Usually 'bangs' and 'booms' could be heard from outside the dorm room walls. Now it was unusually silent…

"Something strange is going on here," Lily said before trudging up the stairs and banging on the door.

**Meanwhile…**

Remus laid still his eyes still closed, however his mind was racing. Opening his eyes to take in his surroundings, he noticed he wasn't in the dorms. _I guess it was full moon last night…AH!_ A burst of pain seared through his skull like a bullet racing through the air. With a fluid motion, he slumped back onto the tree he was first leaning against and felt the back of his head. It wasn't bleeding, but there was going to be a nasty bruise.

He opened his eyes once more and felt the sunlight burn his chocolate visionaries. All of a sudden, he went through his post-full moon checklist. _Are the rest of the Marauders all right? _Remus slowly moved his head from his left side to his right side and only saw the lush green vegetation around him. _All right then, check. Now, did I hurt anybody?_ Remus once again looked from left to right, expecting to see bodies flooding the ground. _Phew! Nope, WAIT, _he thought, looking around._ Why am I not in the Shrieking Shack?_ Remus tried standing up, clinging onto the bark of the abnormally large tree for support. He tried to walk but found that all his strength had left him after the full moon floated down and hid behind the horizon.

_This is going to take a long time…_

**Author's Note: I hope you all liked this chapter! I know, why write only a filler chapter? I promise, this chapter will make the next chapter more interesting and at least a bit more action packed! (Ok…not machine-gun action packed, more like finding-the-truth-about-your-doings action packed, if you know what I mean.) So, please review! Oh yes, I'm posting a poll. This data is really important to me so please take part in the poll! Thanks for reading and remember to REVIEW!**

**Do you like the questionnaire/polls put up after every chapter? Do you take part in them? Would you like it better if they weren't there in the first place?  
**

**A) Yes, I do like the polls and I'm looking forward to more!**

**B) No way! I really don't care about these polls and I don't think that there's a purpose! Personally, I think we should just forget about the polls and only post the chapters up.**

**Thank you! **


	11. Descending Into Darkness

**Disclaimer: This plot and a few of the characters are mine but most of the other ideas are those of J.K. Rowling's. So don't sue, because there's no reason to sue in the first place. Thanks.**

**Thanks to all the reviewers, I'm really glad that you all reviewed and enjoyed the story so far! I'm sorry I can't reply to your reviews, I've been told more than once about how I can't reply back to the reviewers unless they have an author's account, so I'm really, really sorry! I'm also sorry about not being able to update in a long time. It's because of finals, friendship problems, problems at home, and basic complications. I know that you won't take that as a proper apology because you are all totally angry with me, I'm just here to say sorry again! I hope you accept this apology! Oh, and a bit of info:**

**Please don't tell someone that you like them as a joke or cruel trick, it could hurt someone in more ways than you can imagine. It could hurt them mentally and emotionally and, well, it's not exactly the kindest thing you can do for someone, you know? So please, follow this, and not play that kind of trick on someone, it could really hurt someone. Thanks.**

**Now on with the story!**

**Descending Into Darkness:**

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Urgh! What's that noise," grumbled Sirius, grabbing an extra pillow, smashing his head in between two pillows. When that didn't help, he swung his head up and began banging his head against his head board.

"POTTER! OPEN THIS DOOR!"

"Lily," cried James, running towards the door. Forgetting that he was only dressed in a pair of Gryffindor boxers, James threw open the door to see a very horrified-looking Lily and her equally horrified friends.

"What," asked James, suddenly feeling a chill, "oh…" James slowly backed away and shut the door.

"WAH!"

A yell could be heard from the outside of the dorm room walls.

"What the heck was that?" asked Janette, her face contorting into a confused gaze.

**On the grounds…**

Using his last bit of energy, Remus Lupin pushed himself through the doorway of the Shrieking Shack. It really was a wonder he wasn't caught by the Care of Magical Creatures professor.

Remus slouched against the wooden wall, he sighed as the boards creaked. He had finally made his way from the Forbidden Forest, now he just had to wait until the nurse from the Hospital Wing came to collect him.

_Any minute now…_

**Back in the dorms…**

Peter's eyes squinted when coming in contact with the numerous rays of sunlight that cascaded through the window. Yawning, he pushed open the curtains that surrounded his bed to find a very confused and anxious looking James next to an uncharacteristically solemn Sirius.

_I wonder what happened,_ thought Peter worriedly. His bedside clock showed that it was seven A.M. and this wasn't like the boys to be awake so early.

"What's wrong, mates?"

James and Sirius jumped. Neither had noticed that Peter was awake and were struck when they found out that he was in the same room as them.

James suddenly jerked backwards, surprised at his abruptly-gained detective skills. "Wormtail, how did Melissa get down onto the grounds near the Forbidden Forest? Wasn't it your job to make sure that she wasn't to make it out there?"

Sirius suddenly became alert, hi eyes were dull yet angry. "What did you do, Wormtail?"

Last night's adventure suddenly sprung up in Peter's mind, the sound of Melissa's rushing footsteps replayed over and over in his mind. Looking back at his friends' faces, he knew something had gone horribly not according to plan.

"What happened," whispered Peter, his eyes grew wide and frightened. _Did I do something? Was what happened **my** fault?_

"Let's summarize shall we," asked Sirius sarcastically, "when you were wherever you were, James and I couldn't find a way into the shack," Peter looked away. "Mooney crashed through the Whomping Willow, saw Melissa, and MURDERED HER!"

Peter whimpered and threw his head down under his pillow.

"IT WAS **YOUR** FAULT THAT MELISSA DIED, **YOUR** FAULT THAT SHE WASN'T SAFE IN HER DORM WITH LILY OR JANETTE," Sirius vented, his voice slowly going down. "It was **your** fault, Peter. And you call yourself a Marauder. You sicken me." Sirius backed away, his eyes shone with pure hatred. Suddenly turning away, Sirius briskly stormed out of the dorm and slammed the door on his way out. Silence then over took the dorm. The only thing left was to tell Remus.

**Later in the Hospital Wing…**

"Hello, mates," Remus called out as he lay tiredly on the hospital bed. "Missed anything?"

"Hey Mooney, what's new," asked Sirius while shooting James a glance. James caught on.

"Yeah, finished all the Bertie Bott's already I see, at least you saved some of the Pumpkin Pasties…"

"Actually, those are for Melissa. See, I heard they were her favorite," replied Remus, so unaware of the dark looks that grew on his friends' faces. I haven't seen her since before the transformation, where is she? It's not like her, not showing up…"

"Um, Mooney," started Sirius before James cut him short.

"Sirius, I'll do it, you stick with Wormtail, ok?"

"Pettigrew? I'll have nothing to do with that filthy little bugger."

"Sirius, he's one of our friends."

"He's not friend of mine."

"Sirius, that's unusually cold of you."

"Yeah, well murder changes people. I'll be at the lake if you need me." And with that, Sirius Black stormed out of the Hospital Wing without a single glance back.

"What's up with him?"

James turned around and noticed Remus staring worriedly at the twin oak doors.

"Oh, nothing, just told him he couldn't copy my History homework. You know how he is," James lied, trying to save himself from letting the truth shoot out.

"Yeah, I do, and I know he has enough common sense not to ask you for your homework. Come on, tell me what's going on. Is it girl troubles?" Remus looked so innocent, a simple smile playing on his lips. James sighed, knowing that his news would knock that smile right off his face and keep it off for the next hundred years.

James sighed again, gaining the attention of a daydreaming Remus. "Sorry. Mooney, I have to tell you something."

James's worried look surprised Remus, his friend was never worried unless it has to do with Lily Evans. Though this look wasn't a Lily Evans look…

"Remus, you know how when something big happens and you're not quite sure what you're supposed to do? When you're just in the middle of it all and you just can't quite stop thinking, 'Whoa, this isn't my life'?"

Remus stared at James. For once, James Potter was getting to be very deep. Remus liked intellectual conversations, in fact, the more the merrier. He nodded yes to signal James to continue.

"Well," started the troubled James, "have you ever experienced that feeling when a loved one passes away and you just feel like the world is going to collapse if you don't find a way to get that person back into your life, strong and healthy, once again?"

"James, you know about my father. Is there a point to this?"

"Yes, um…" James tried to think of a way to tell his friend about what happened to Melissa when the headmaster burst into the Hospital Wing. Without a warning, James jumped and toppled off the foot of Remus's cot and onto the floor.

"Good afternoon Mr. Lupin," the headmaster glanced concerned at James, " Mr. Potter. May I talk to Mr. Lupin privately, Mr. Potter?"

Nodding, James stepped out. He knew what was going to happen, what the headmaster was going to say, and it wasn't going to be congratulating Remus on his fine work on the O.W.L.s.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry that it's such a short chapter, I just felt like this was a good place to stop it, you know? I don't think I'll update again before Christmas (I might, I don't know, depends on the reviews!) and if I don't, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or Happy Kwanza, or a Happy Hanukah. Basically, I hope you have a great winter break! Please review and have a great time! Here's the poll:**

**What is my favorite book (excluding Harry Potter)?**

**A) Rewind by Jan Page**

**B) The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce**

**C) Alice (the series) by Phyllis Reynolds**

**D) The Son of the Mob by (I'm sorry, I forgot the author's name!)**

**Enjoy! And Review! Happy Holidays! -complicated123**


	12. Past The Highway

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides my two characters and this plot. The great J.K. Rowling owns everything else.**

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! I'm SO sorry for the many million years that had to pass before this chapter came out! I just didn't know how to make the story go the way I wanted it to…but now I do! Hooray! Let's hope I update sooner this time, I'm seriously hoping that I will as well! I need a boost…and that's something I can get with a ton of reviews! (Hint, hint!) Anyway, thanks for the reviews and believing in me! I hope you're still reading my story and had not given up on me! You guys rock! And, by the way, the answer to the last poll was: Rewind by Jan Page. Enjoy this new chapter!**

**Past The Highway:**

The chilly air of autumn slowly and patiently made a frosty turn as winter knocked on the door. The students packed the last of their shorts and sandals in their trunks, trading them in with parkas and sweats. Laughter rang in the hallways and snowballs were hurled. Every moment witnessed on the grounds was a picturesque one. Snow flakes littered the ground in bunches, massing up, becoming snowy blankets of heaven. Hogwarts had turned into a winter wonderland.

However, not everyone was in a jolly mood. Not everyone was in the mood for snowball fights or midnight kitchen raids. Remus Lupin; ace Marauder, bookworm extraordinaire, best friend and classmate, loved by many, seen as a shy, kind, caring guy…was broken. His first love was gone, but that wasn't all. He…he had killed her. He had murdered her with his own two hands.

No matter what anyone said, no matter how hard anyone begged to explain to him that it wasn't his fault, he knew the truth. He could see it. They just didn't know it. They didn't know his secret. And those who did, his friends, say it wasn't his fault either. But he knew it was true…it didn't matter if he was in a different state of mind, it didn't matter if he was brainwashed even! Remus Lupin believed that he had killed Melissa Rovers and he wasn't going to change his mind anytime soon.

"Remus," whispered Lily lightly, as she softly placed her hand on his shoulder. Remus hadn't been the same since Melissa passed away. Of course, none of them had been…but he had changed the most. He almost completely shut his friends out and lost all focus of the real world. His grades were slipping and…he was scaring her.

"What," Remus replied gruffly, shrugging her hand away, moving closer towards his bed's headboard, making the distance between them bigger.

"Remus…I know about y-your problem."

This grabbed his attention. He swerved around; his eyes wide like those of a deer awaiting his doom with an upcoming car. If possible, he would have backed away further, but he was already at the furthest point in which he could go.

"H-h-how? W-what?"

Remus' mind was racing at the speed of light; he couldn't believe what she had said.

Lily cleared her throat, slightly scared and doubtful, doubtful if this was the right thing to be saying. "Yes. Remus, I've noticed you always leaving…you always either visiting your sick mother or…o-or leaving school for some reason and it always happens to be at the same time each month." Remus sucked in his breath; he felt his heart stop. "Remus…a-are you a…well, a werewolf?"

The silence in the room was deafening and a knife could indeed cut the awkwardness. Lily nervously twirled her hair around her finger. She was afraid of Remus's reaction towards her finding out the truth behind his many lies. And Remus? He couldn't believe it.

"H-how?"

"What?"

"How did you figure it out?"

"Well, I was working on my Divination homework, which was making a moon chart. And, well, one thing went to another and I noticed one time that you left on a full moon and got a bit suspicious. So…" Lily looked a bit embarrassed. "I kind of kept tabs on you for a while."

"Oh." Remus sighed, silently happy that none of his fellow Marauders had accidentally let out his "furry little problem". Ashamed, he let out another sigh and lay back on his bed while staring up at the canopy.

"Oh, Remus, there's nothing to be ashamed of! It's just a minor setback. And you've been doing so well! Don't be ashamed about being a werewolf, ok?"

"No…n-no, that isn't it."

"What is it then," asked Lily, concern crowding in her eyes. She could see impatience and anger start to take over Remus, he was starting to tense up. "Oh no. No, Remus, you don't think that because of-"

"Yes, I do! It's because of me that she died, Lily, why can't anyone else see that? WHY CAN'T THEY JUST STICK ME IN AZKABAN FOR WHAT I'VE DONE?" Remus let out an angry breath of air and grabbed a pillow, harshly placing it above his face. Then, started suffocating himself.

"Remus? REMUS! Let go…LET GO OF THE-OF THE PILLOW!" Lily finally got possession of the pillow and hurled it at the ground. "Now listen to me, Remus Lupin, I know you're hurting right now, we all are. But I think you should stop blaming yourself for what's happened. It's not your fault that Melli…that Melli left us and you should stop thinking it is. You were not in your state of mind. You were not thinking right. Wake up! Now look at yourself. Go to the mirror and see yourself." Lily dragged Remus up from his bed and forced him to stand in front of the full-length mirror near the bathroom. It was amazing how strong she was.

"Now see that? Look what you've become. Now if Melli was here right now, how do you think she'd feel?"

"If Melli was here right now, I wouldn't be in this mess."

"You know what I mean, Remus. You've lost a ton of weight in almost two months and I don't mean it in a good way. This is not good weight loss. You've lost control of your schoolwork and you've almost thrown away your future! Remus, even **Peter** is getting better grades than you at this moment. Does this not bother you at all?"

"If Melli isn't with me, I don't have a future."

"Now listen to me, Remus…the first step to recovery is realizing you have a problem. I know this hurts, it hurt us all…but Melli is gone." Remus cringed, his body going stiff and tense. "She's not coming back. She'll always be in our hearts, but she's not going to come into Transfiguration tomorrow like she was just five minutes late. Now I want you to realize this."

Remus looked away, tears started crowding in his eyes. He didn't want anyone to see him cry. No one had seen him cry and he wasn't going to start right now with Lily. However, Lily did notice a droplet of sadness fall down his cheeks and gave him a silent hug. They stood together like that for about five minutes before Remus began to wipe his cheeks and act, for the first time in two months, like himself again. And how did he start? He smiled.

Lily grinned, wiping a few tears of her own out of the way before starting back towards Remus's bed where her book bag lay. As she started for the door, she turned around and realized something.

"Oh, Remus! I almost forgot…" Lily started rooting through her bag and found a small purple book, which looked a lot like a diary. "Mr. and Mrs. Rovers gave this to the headmaster, to give to me, to give to you…Melli's diary."

Remus gasped a little as he reached for the small book and looked it over, every square inch of it.

"Yeah, her parents had already looked through every page when they realized that she wrote a lot about you in there." Lily gave Remus a sad smile. "They thought that you would like it, since you and Melli shared the same feelings for each other. And I personally can't think of a single person better to give it to."

The two teenagers shared a small smile before Lily left for the girls' dorms, leaving Remus with the mere memory of his first love and the diary in which her lively soul's footprints would forever remain.

_"Your mother helped me in a time when no one else could." _**(A/N: from POA movie)**

**A few days later…**

"There's going to be a ball!"

"Really!"

"Isn't there always?"

"UGH! Not ANOTHER ball!"

"Oh, shut up, Dean. We're going to this one and that's final."

"But Laura-"

"Shut it, we're going!"

A notice had been posted in each Common Room about the upcoming Winter Ball. As usual, all the girls were excited and overjoyed. And, of course, as usual, all the boys were…well…not.

"Janette already has a date," sighed Janette happily as she seated herself at a seat in the Great Hall for supper.

"And why is Janette referring to herself in third person," asked Alice as she helped herself to some peas. The girls had come to supper early to get a head start with dinner so they could retire early to their dorms to look over dress catalogs. Lily hadn't gone proper dress shopping in years, Alice had left her only good dress at home, and Janette's dresses were all a size too small. These excuses gave them all a good excuse to go all out and use up most of their money in hopes of finding the perfect dress.

"It's just fun. Sue me if I want to act crazy at times," sighed Janette happily as she scooped some chicken onto her plate. "So aren't you wondering who the mystery guy is?"

"Who is it?"

"Dennis Rovman."

"Who the hell is that?"

"You don't know him? Where have you been, Alice? He always sits at the back of the classroom in D.A.D.A.! Now do you recognize him?"

"Still have no clue. Hey, Lily," Alice said as she poked Lily in the rib.

"Ow!"

"Do you know who," Alice looked inquisitively at Janette.

"Dennis Rovman."

"Right. Do you know who Dennis Rovman is?"

"No idea. Is he in our year?" Lily wiped her hands on her napkin and happily glanced at Janette for the answer.

"Oh gosh," Janette sighed, "Of course he is! He sits at the back of the room during D.A.D.A.! Please don't tell me that you don't know who he is."

"No clue."

"URGH," grunted Janette as she bit into her chicken.

"Whoa, Hoovers, save us the killing spree, please."

"Back off, Black, she's feeling frustrated," remarked Lily, as she sent another happy look at Janette who grunted and looked away.

"Someone's not feeling very feminine today."

"Why don't you go stick your head up your arse, Black," Janette politely suggested as Sirius plopped right next to her, ready to feast.

"Now that's my girl!"

As the rest of the girls, Sirius, James, and Peter began to eat, Remus sighed.

"You guys notice that this will be the first ball without Melissa, don't you?"

Everyone looked at each other uncertainly, not knowing what to say. They were slightly shocked that Remus had spoken, for he hadn't spoken much since the death. No one knew of Remus's talking to by Lily either. No one spoke, until…

"To Melissa," Lily raised her glass as if for a toast. With silent conversations and blank faces the others raised their glasses and proposed:

"To Melissa."

**Author's Note: I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please press the little "go" button and REVIEW! Here's the latest poll:**

**What's my favorite song right now?**

**A) **"**A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton**

**B) **"**Crash" by Gwen Stefani**

**C) **"**The Riddle" by Five for Fighting**

**D) **"**For You I Will" by Teddy Geiger**

**Good luck and thanks for reading! Please review!**

**-complicated123**


	13. Glasses of Realization

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of J.K. Rowling's thoughts, ideas, or characters. I just own my own characters and this plot.**

**Summary: Please go back to Chapter One! Beep!**

**Author's Note: I'm oh so sorry for the extreme long time since I've updated. I know, it's been over a year. (I think...right?) Anyway, I am SO sorry! I just got extreme writer's block! I now know where I'm going...kind of. It's summer time! Oh so happy! Time to go cra-zae! Oh yeah, and update! Enjoy the chapter and thanks for being patient with me! I love you guys!**

**Glasses of Realization:**

The next few weeks at Hogwarts flew by in a blur of emotion. The girls had seized every moment to arrange plans for the Winter Ball. The boys were shocked that the were having a ball in the first place, and not shocked in a good way. There hadn't been a ball in quite a while and the students were in mixed opinions about the fact that the headmaster would allow such festivities to take place so close to midterm plans.

Janette's eyes continuously sparkled while thinking of Dennis, her date for the ball. Her usual self-rightous self deflated, suddenly taking on a costume of uncertainty and nervousness. Lily and Alice were caught way too many times by Janette, who was constantly asking which dress robe to wear, how her hair should be done, what makeup palette she should use...it drove them insane. Lily would try to hole herself inside the library, in the darkest corner she could find while Alice took up a tutoring job so that she could stay busy in turn that Janette would try to pin her again.

The Marauder boys were less shaken about these turn of events. Sirius, of course, didn't have trouble in finding a date. Crystal Balim told the story about seven times before being forced into her dorm. You would think that her friends would wait out her insanity. Yes, you would think so.

James and Peter spent their free time reawakening the socially-dead Remus from his dark crevice. He was slowly making recovery, greeting old friends down the corridors and raising his hand more often during classes. When the boys got tired, they switched shifts with Lily at the library. Recovery was a long, hard process.

James watched Lily as they passed Remus off on one bright, tuesday afternoon. She had tied her fiery hair behind her into a out-of-the-way ponytail and was tyring to juggle a few books while grabbing Remus's hand. Dark rings were starting to form under her eyes and the sparkle from her emerald eyes didn't seem as bright as they were a few days ago. James thought back to the last few days and realized that he hadn't seen Lily outside of classes and the library in quite a while. She had been studying like mad, never really speaking to anyone except to reassure James and Peter that she would take good care of Remus.

James furrowed his brow, his face growing serious from its usual cocky grin. "Lily, are you sure you're ok watching Remus tonight? You seem..." Lily shot a daring glare his way, reminding him to think twice about what to say. "...tired."

"I'm fine, thanks," said Lily, her voice as more of a growl. "Come on, Remus, let's go." Since Melissa had gone, she had started to study more and more. She guessed it was probably just to fill up the void. She didn't think it was unhealthy..she needed to study to get good grades, didin't she? Lily grabbed his hand and started to stalk off towards the library, unaware of the anxious looks being thrown by the boys.

"Uh...Lily, I think I'm fine. Seriously. Everyone, I think I need some space. I don't need to be watched every minute like I'm a child. I don't need to be under constant surveilance!" cried Remus, his voice carrying out through the empty hallway. His calm exterior was starting to fade away, showing his true emotions that lay behind.

"But..."

"No! I just need some space, ok? I'm sorry, and I'm thankful for all that you've helped me with, but I just need to have a little more room." Remus cast a sympathetic look towards the lot, hoping that they'd understand.

"Sure, mate. Let's just give him a little breathing room. Mooney, we'll see you in the Dining Hall at eight, ok?" James started to take off, leading Peter towards Gryffindor tower. Remus quickly walked down the corridor to speak to Slughorn about his latest essay assignment. Lily looked incredulously at the retreating boys.

"James!"

"Yeah,"James turned around, stopping right in front of Peter, causing the short boy to walk right into him. He fell onto the ground, writhing in pain, cursing about his nose. The two paid no attention to him.

"What the bloody hell was that all about? He isn't alright walking around on his own! He needs someone to watch him, to make sure he doesn't do something he'll regret-"

"Lily, for Pete's sake, we have to give him some space. If we don't, he'll never get the hang of what he did before."

"But what if he does something endanger his life? He felt so suicidal when Melissa left-"

"NOW DON'T BRING THAT UP AGAIN!" James's voice carried out loudly down the corridor. His face turned crimson and his hands were shoved forcibly into his pockets. He seemed like he wanted to restrain himself from doing something...Lily couldn't tell what it was. "You know that Melissa's death is why he is what he is and how he is now. If you keep bringing it up, he's going to stay the way depressed forever. You have to stop hanging it over his head like that! Lily, don't you see, you're making things worse!"

"By what, trying to help him accept what he did?!"

"Accept?! Oh, that's just ripe. Accept. Don't you think that Remus has done enough "accepting" for the rest of us, let alone himself? In case you haven't noticed, he's already accepted what he's done. He's trying to move on, but you keep holding him back! You'd notice if you weren't also nose-deep in textbooks to notice the lives of your friends around you. OPEN YOUR EYES, LILY, AND GET OUT OF YOU OWN DAMN WORLD! MERLIN, YOU CALL ME A ARSE BUT WHY DON'T YOU JUST LOOK THE HELL AT YOURSELF!"

Lily's eyes filled with tears, too many to hide behind the mask she always put up when she was around Potter. She still held her guard, though they flowed freely down her cheeks. She griped her books as tightly to her chest as she could, not knowing what to do. Her silent sobs were never witnessed by anyone else, until this day.

James watched Lily as his anger finally subsided. The strong girl that he thought she was seemed to unravel before his eyes. He saw her shoulders shake and the dewy droplets fall down her porcelain cheeks. Her knuckles turned a sickly white from the pressure she had put on the books and she hadn't looked up since his outburst. He didn't know the amount of hurt that welled up in her eyes. He didn't want to know because he was the one that caused it.

"Look, Lily, I'm sorry." James started towards her, his arm reaching to surround her shoulders.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lily quickly brushed away, her vision blurred. She only knew that she had to get away. She raced down the corridor towards Gryffindor tower with James chasing after her, calling for her with every step she took. Peter, uneasy with what he had witnessed, set off on a search for Sirius.

**In the Common Room...**

"Lily, stop!" James grabbed Lily's arm as she tried to make a break to her dorm room. She had dropped her books on the way to the tower, but she didn't care about the books right now. She had to get away from James Potter.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Lily cried, trying to pull away from James, her sniffling getting harder until they were full blown sobs. "You don't understand." She toppled onto the couch, taking comfort from the velvety cushion covers. James, still holding onto her, softly tried to calm her down and make some sense of the situation.

"Try me."

James slowly and unsurely, leaned in and pulled his arms around her and pulled her into an embrace. Lily sank in, her head on his shoulder, sobbing hysterically. Their entrance had scared off the previous inhabitants of the Gryffindor Common Room. They knew when they had to leave.

They stayed in that position for a half an hour. Lily gazed into the fire while James waited from the time to ask her what she meant. Lily's breathing started to even out, and her breaths came out soft and quiet. James found comfort in their closeness and felt a longing, the same longing he'd had for the longest time. For Lily. Always Lily. Only Lily.

"Lily?"

"Hm...?" she questioned, as she started to slip off into dreamland.

"Lily, you don't need to hide the fact that you miss her."

Lily's eyes started to well up again as she gripped tighter onto James. She needed something to keep her up, or else she'd drown in all this sadness.

"You've helped out Remus and told him to accept the fact that Melissa is long gone. I think you need to follow your own advice and accept it as well."

"I have." Lily looked up into his eyes, trying to show him that she really did try. She knew the truth.

"It's called 'denial'. Look it up." James reluctantly let go of Lily and stood up, his legs happy to be in use once again. "Get some sleep and try to accept. I'll see you tomorrow." He made his way towards the boys' stairs and started to climb.

"James?"

"Huh?"

"Thanks."

**The next day...**

"Oh Merlin, I am so excited about the ball tonight! Can you believe it?!" shreiked Janette for the twentieth time that morning. Her black hair bounced as she practically skipped alongside the rest of the girls. "Did you see how Dennis sent me a message by owl this morning in front of the whole school? Isn't that romantic? He said he couldn't wait to take me to the ball! Do you think the red and black robe is the one I should wear? I'm still not sure..."

"Janette, will you please, for Pete's sake, shut the hell up? You've told us about the note about a million times. Yes, it was bloody romantic and yes, it was bloody fabulous but that doens't mean you should be losing your mind over this guy!" Alice exclaimed, her frustration had finally blew. It was true, Janette had been talking about the note ever since she got it. She spoke about nothing else than the ball and Dennis. It was driving everyone, including Alice, absolutely insane.

"Janette, you prat, that dress is the best one. Take it or leave it, that's all I really have to say," replied Lily in a bored tone, sighing as she flopped into her chair. She was thinking about her little rendezvous with a specific someone in the Common Room last night. She had started to see a more sensitive side of James when Remus had been peirced in the heart, but she shoved it aside, thinking that it was a trick. Yet over the past month, she noticed things that made it true. James Potter really did care.

"Earth to Lily."

"Ms. Evans, are you still with us?"

Lily jumped and stared at the Charms professor, staring at her with his beady, black eyes. The entire class had turned to stare and she found herself oddly self concious. "Yes, I'm sorry."

"You should be, Ms. Evans. I had higher expectations from you, as a prefect."

"I really am sorry." She tried to explain but the professor had already turned towards the blackboard to explain a complex maneuver to put on items of great worth. Lily caught James giving her a curious look and she shook her head. _Nothing to worry about_, she thought.

**Welcome to the Winter Ball...**

Janette had just finished putting the finishing touches on her makeup mask, finally fulfilling the orders given by Lily and Alice: to actually go to the dance. The girls had spent the last hour prepping and making sure that they looked "presentable" by the other two. This might be their one and only ball during the school year. They had to make the most of it. Or so Janette felt.

As the girls filed out from the dorm room, James stood in the Common Room waiting for Remus to hurry up. He had said that he just needed to find another sock, and he had left for about two minutes already and James was getting impatient. Why he was going to go to the ball anyway was a mystery to him, but Sirius and Peter wanted to go and Remus thought it would be a good chance to get back out in the open...

The girls strolled down the stairs in single-file. Alice cascaded first, leading the way, down the stairs in a dark blue dress gown. Her hair had been pulled back softly that created a messy but elegant look. Janette followed down in suit, her black and red, kimono style dress robe fitted her form the perfect way. She had let her hair down and wavy, its natural state.

Lily slowly cascaded down the stairs in her heels and in a dark green dress gown that accented her eyes. Her hair was pulled in a loose french braid-type style and she wore tiny flower earrings. As she reached the bottom step, she looked into James's eyes.

_She was gorgeous_, James thought, _and she didn't even know it_. Lily looked down blushing and hurried towards her friends. James sauntered over in his usual way.

"Hey, ladies, looking good. Alice, you look utmost ravishing, as do you, Janette. Remus should be down in a second, and then we should-"

"I'm down now. Hey, ladies, let's head to the Great Hall, shall we?" Remus popped up as if from no where, shocking James. He jumped and fell backward onto the couch, crumping his dress robes which he had spent over two hours of painstaking labor trying to get the dumb thing to fold right.

"Bugger," grumble James, as he dusted himself off. He followed the others out of the portrait entrance and into the freezing corridor. What a great way to start the long, long evening.

**Author's Note: I hope you liked this latest chapter! Please review and I'll do my best to update soon! Thanks a bunch, guys!**

**complicated123**


	14. Glitter and Rocks

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of J.K. Rowling's thoughts, ideas, or characters. I just own my characters and this plot.**

**Summary: Go back to Chapter One. You do not have to pay the entrance fee.**

**Author's Note: I know I keep saying this, but I really am sorry that I keep forgetting to update. I've been really out of it (as you've probably all noticed since I haven't updated since last year). I wouldn't be surprised if you are a little upset but I do hope you read on and enjoy! **

**Glitter and Rocks:**

Slowly and gingerly, the masses of students traipsed their way into the Great Hall and were wowed by the spectacular brilliance of the set decorations. The magical ceiling mirrored a glittering summer night sky and the false full moon and stars cast a subtle glow that filled up the entire dance floor. Tables were set along the sides of the hall, decorated with intricately woven napkins and elaborate centerpieces. Four ice sculptures posed with their backs to the walls, carved to shape each of the house's mascots. Their blank stares took in the feeling of wonder and anticipation that radiated from the students.

Janette made a beeline toward Dennis, not caring that in her haste, she nearly tripped a fourth year Hufflepuff trying to carry five cups of punch in her arms. The gang's eyes followed her and ended up gazing upon a blonde haired boy with a cocky grin. Seeing her hook arms with the boy they presumed to be Dennis, the gang knew they wouldn't see her for the rest of the night.

"Hey, guys," cried Sirius, his left arm hooked around Crystal's waist while the right looked cemented onto a cup of punch. "Enjoying the par-tae?"

"Padfoot, you said you'd wait for us outside of the hall! We waited for fifteen minutes," James questioned as he fussed with his hair. Lily rolled her eyes towards Alice, who in turn giggled.

"I was going to but Crystal insisted on dancing right away."

"Aw, sweetie, I told you! I told you that you can call me Crissy," squeaked Crystal, her voice unusually high pitched. Fluttering her eyelashes and wrapping her arms around his waist, Crystal waited for a reply while showing him off to all the other girls, as if he was a new doll. As if he was Crystal's property.

_As if you could ever control Sirius_, thought James, smiling inwardly. _Not even Merlin himself could gain control of Sirius Black._

"_Crissy_ wanted to dance," mumbled Sirius, gritting his teeth together. He couldn't stand this woman for one more second. Everything that came out of her mouth was like verbal bile.

"In ten minutes you're going to tell me that you have a broken foot and we're getting the hell out of here, away from this mad girl." The whispering for the night had begun.

"Hey, you asked her out, mate, you have to handle her. I'm here for the night. Can't let these dress robes go to waste, eh," whispered Prongs back to Padfoot, motioning lightly towards Lily with a small nod of his head.

"Fine. Some friend you are, Prongs. How about you, Mooney? Up to leaving this joint and heading out to Hogsmeade? The corridors should be empty due to this snorefest."

"You've got to be kidding me! I've only just gotten here," Remus answered, totally oblivious to the pleading glares given off by his fellow Marauder.

"You both are awful. You call yourselves Marauders. The Marauders is a formation of brothers! We are supposed to be a brotherhood! And brothers are supposed to help one another in times of need, especially when one of their dates turns out to be-"

"What are you boys whispering about, sweetie?"

"Nothing…_Crissy_," Sirius shuddered. "Want to come over to my dorm? We can…hang out?"

"Sure, let's go!" And with that, the dynamic duo left the Great Hall, leaving jealous looks and broken hearts in their wake.

"Why's Sirius bringing Crystal to your dorm if he hates her," wondered Lily, while scooping up a ladle filled with punch. Taking a sip, she realized there was an extra zing in the flavoring. _Firewhisky. _

"Well, _Sirius_'s logic is that even if the date's a dud, it doesn't necessarily mean that she'd be a bad snog."

Remus shook his head and smiled, opening up to the atmosphere around him. The dance floor was crowded and a live band was called to play. Hearts were soaring and he could see the desire and shyness in many a face as they danced close to their loved ones. Loved ones…he sighed. Then again, there were the occasional one night stands that didn't care for emotional attraction. A night of rushing hormones and then it's off to the exchange counter for their dates. Just like Sirius and James…before he met Lily.

"Excuse me but I promised Frank I'd meet him at the Entrance Hall at nine. I'll see you all afterwards!" Alice scurried to the giant oak doors, her heart aflutter and her eyes bright with hope. Lily waved her off and then grabbed another glass of firewhiskey punch.

The trio stood awkwardly, glancing around the room at the couples that came together, their different dress robes, and to see if there was any drama that was about to unfold. Seconds turned to minutes and the minutes slowly accumulated until half an hour crashed right on by without turning any heads.

"So, no date?" James tried to ask Lily as cool as he could, without realizing that it wouldn't end pretty.

"What about it?" Lily stood with her hands on her hips, her raised eyebrow accusing him of judging her.

"Nothing! Nothing…just, you didn't run off like your friends did."

"I came for the music, and the dancing, and the food…there's no harm in going stag is there?" Lily crossed her arms and Remus gave her a pitying look. She clearly wasn't having any fun.

"Uh…stag?" James cast a nervous glance toward Remus, while Remus shook his head.

"You know, going without a date. Solo. By yourself!" Lily's nonchalant attitude started to break and her outburst shocked all those in the general vicinity. "Sorry…"

"Um," James took in a deep breath. _It's now or never, mate._ "Would you like to dance?"

Lily grabbed another cup full of punch and gulped it down, shocking both James and Remus, both who hadn't had a sip to know what was truly in it. "Sure."

Feeling stupefied, James took her hand and lead her onto the dance floor just as the band started up a nice, slow number. Holding her close, he could breathe in the scent of her shampoo interwoven with the lightness of her perfume. With her head lying on his chest, he worried that she'd be able to hear his racing heart beat. Paying constant attention, James successfully spun her around the floor, smoothly and delicately, as if she was a dew drop on a flower petal. Though overcome by nervousness and anxiety, his feelings for her were stronger. He was comfortable with her there in his hands. She was delicate but strong. She could carry the world's weight but couldn't understand herself at all. She was a small, confused thing. She was _his_ small, confused thing.

A high-pitched scream broke through the dancers' dreamy states. The band stopped abruptly and the professors tried to make way towards the garden just outside as fast as they could. Hearing Janette's voice, Lily dragged James towards the door. Remus followed in close pursuit.

"Stop! Please stop," cried Janette, her hands grabbing the ends of her skirt as she tried to run as quickly as she could away from her shadowed assaulter.

"Janette?"

"Leave me alone! Just…leave me alone!"

"JANETTE!" The trio had finally found her, huddled on the grass, trying to shrink away from none other than Dennis Rovman. "Get away from her!"

Dennis lunged towards Janette but James and Remus intercepted, pushing him back into line. Janette continued to sob, while Lily tried to comfort her.

"What are you trying to do, eh, Rovman," asked James, his anger bubbling inside of him. What did this guy to do upset his friend like this? From an excited teenager into a bumbling mess, he had driven Janette to the bottom of the pit of despair. "What are you trying to get at?"

"Just trying to have a little fun, mate. No need to cause trouble. No harm done."

"No harm done? She's crying, can't you hear her? CAN'T YOU HEAR HER?"

"She's only trying to fight herself, man. She wants to have fun as much as I do. I know so."

James gave Dennis a shove, pushing him backwards into the stone wall of the tower. Remus rushed off to find a professor before his friend would get into any trouble. It was hard to pull James back into reason after he gives into his anger.

"Did she say she wanted to be with you tonight, Rovman? DID SHE SAY ANYTHING AT ALL?"

James punched Dennis in the jaw, a meeting of bone and bone had begun. Dennis slid down the wall, his hands guarding his mouth like a shield. James took the chance to kick Dennis in the side, making close contact with his ribs. Like a soundtrack to a movie, Janette's wailing filled the background of Dennis's beating. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth, creating little streams of shame and destruction that seeped into the soil.

James kept on beating Dennis. Punch after punch, each hand lay a different meaning. From his hurt friend to a lost friend, from a shadowed love to recovering brother. His frustrations and confusion fueled his anger and Dennis was feeling every bit of it. Dennis's body was being forced to take each and every blow.

"James Potter!" Professor McGonagall pulled James away from the shivering body. The crowds were forced to part and go back inside to the party as the professor swiftly pulled Dennis to his feet. Taking an alternative route, the professor and Dennis made their way toward the Hospital Wing, leaving Janette, Lily, James, and Remus alone.

"Janette?" Janette shook her head and cried softly into Lily's shoulder. "We're going to go the dorms. I think it's been a- a rough night." Without looking once at James, Lily wrapped Janette's arm around her neck and the gang walked back to the dorms in a solemn silence.

As Remus helped carry Janette up the dorm room steps, Lily stopped James in the common room. Her eyes filled with a question for all to see but she just couldn't find the answer. Running her fingers lightly across his cheek, she slowly walked up the stairs to her room. Without a word, the two girls fell asleep, both unsure about what lay ahead.

**Author's Note: I hope this chapter was ok! I haven't written fanfiction stories in a while and just recently I realized how much I missed it! With time, I will get back on the wheel! I ****just need some reviews to egg me on! (hint, hint) Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Complicated123**


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